Hochul's bid for triple play with ICE bill a bit suspect
The governor’s bill would dissolve all local government agreements with ICE. Credit: Pool / Getty Images
Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to send a message to Washington: New York will not partner with the federal government on civil immigration enforcement.
She is asking the legislature to pass a law that would dissolve current 287(g) agreements and ban new ones. They are named for the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes ICE to enter formal agreements deputizing local officers to identify, investigate and even arrest people on their behalf.
The underlying premise of her “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act” is that public safety efforts must be conducted “lawfully, transparently, and with humanity” to have safe communities. On that, Hochul’s correct. The hard-earned efforts by local police departments to have their communities trust and cooperate with them is badly eroded when they are seen as immigration agents.
While Hochul’s message is good, enacting a feel-good state law, which would be subject to an immediate legal challenge, is probably not.
Hochul, who is seeking reelection this year, is trying to execute a political triple play which makes her effort a little suspect. The bill, which would dissolve all agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made by local governments, aligns her with the popular sentiment that the Trump administration’s deportation policies have gone astray. Her effort also serves to highlight the cheerleading for ICE by her presumptive Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who has signed two such federal agreements that permit county detectives to work with ICE and that allocate 50 jail cells to hold detainees. Finally, Hochul’s move attempts to thwart an effort by her party’s left to pass the “New York for All Act” which would declare New York a sanctuary state, a step too far for her.
Right now, there is grassroots momentum in many corners of New York and around the nation to resist President Donald Trump’s sweeping and violent ICE crackdowns and any local cooperation with it. That’s the most effective way for New Yorkers to demand accountability for what is happening.
President Barack Obama deported over 5 million people in part using the 287(g) Program mostly to target undocumented people with existing criminal records or new arrivals. If 287(g) agreements really are the problem, the best answer is for Congress to ban them since the federal government has authority over immigration policy. If the problem is an indiscriminate and inhumane purge by the Trump administration, banning all the cooperation contracts in the nation will have little impact.
Still, the Nassau County Legislature should rescind its two agreements. Besides the distrust they can sow, local governments are on the hook when something goes wrong. That’s one of the reasons why Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine has not done so. Suffolk is appealing a $112 million federal jury award from last fall for violating the civil rights of hundreds of detainees between 2016 and 2018 stemming from the 287(g) agreement former Sheriff Vincent DeMarco signed during Trump’s first term.
The only message Washington will hear will be the one voters send in November.
MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD are experienced journalists who offer reasoned opinions, based on facts, to encourage informed debate about the issues facing our community.
