Hochul, Mamdani announce measures to limit ICE’s role in New York

Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week took steps to curb what they describe as the growing entanglement of public-sector workers in federal immigration enforcement, advancing parallel state and city actions to limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s reach in New York.

At the city level, Mayor Mamdani announced a new executive order on Feb. 6 barring ICE agents from entering city-owned property — including schools, shelters and hospitals — without a judicial warrant. 

The order directs city agencies to protect New Yorkers' personal information from being shared with federal immigration authorities and mandates training city workers on how to respond to ICE requests, when access or information can legally be denied and the rights of New Yorkers under federal, state and local law. 

These directives follow calls from unions, including several locals within District Council 37, for the implementation of such training programs.

At an interfaith breakfast at the New York Public Library Friday morning, Mamdani said the order would “uphold our city’s protection not just of our fellow immigrant New Yorkers, but of all New Yorkers from abusive immigration enforcement.”  

At the state level, Hochul unveiled legislation she said would prevent federal immigration authorities from deputizing local law enforcement to carry out a national political agenda. Her proposal, titled the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, would ban New York police departments from collaborating with ICE on civil immigration arrests.

The bill would prohibit municipalities from entering into 287(g) agreements under which local police assist ICE in immigration enforcement and are reimbursed by the federal government. It would also bar counties from renting jail space to ICE.

Together, the moves further tighten New York City’s sanctuary policies and underscore a broader effort by state and city officials to assert local authority over public institutions and protect municipal workers from federal encroachment.

Gov. Hochul announces the introduction of legislation to prohibit local law enforcement from being deputized by ICE for federal civil immigration enforcement on Jan. 30.

Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

'This is about a rogue federal agency'

At a Jan. 30 press conference, Hochul framed her legislation as pushback against federal agencies using local law enforcement to advance a national political agenda, often at the expense of community trust and the working conditions of public employees.

“ICE should not be allowed to weaponize local police officers against their own communities,” Hochul said. “This is about a rogue federal agency that’s been unleashed on American streets for the sole purpose of creating chaos, carnage and fear.”

​​Standing alongside Hochul were NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox, and four of New York City’s five district attorneys.

In the last year, the 287(g) agreements have rapidly expanded across the state following increased ICE activity.

Currently, 14 New York municipalities participate, the majority of them upstate, with Nassau County as the closest to NYC and the most politically contentious. These agreements offer federal reimbursement to local departments, covering salaries and benefits for officers assigned to immigration enforcement.

Hochul’s bill would bar municipalities from entering or renewing those agreements, effectively removing the federal funding that has incentivized local participation.

In 2025, the number of people detained in New York jails by ICE rose nearly 600 percent. More than 600 people are currently held at Orange County Jail, while nearly 1,500 detainees are housed at Nassau County Jail. Counties can be reimbursed up to $195 per detainee per day, amounting to millions of dollars statewide.

In a Jan. 30 post on X, Mayor Mamdani praised Hochul’s proposal.

“Masked federal agents are terrorizing our communities,” he wrote. “Thanks to [Governor Hochul] today New York took a step toward ending local law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE. We cannot be complicit in their cruelty.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican and gubernatorial candidate challenging Hochul, has taken the opposite view. He's repeatedly touted the county’s 287(g) agreement as a public safety success and defended the partnership as a tool to combat crime. 

The Nassau County Police Benevolent Association did not respond to a request for comment.

Hochul rejected the notion that such cooperation is necessary to keep communities safe, noting that ICE operates with a budget exceeding $85 billion and emphasizing that the legislation would not limit cooperation on criminal matters.

Tisch echoed that argument, warning that federal immigration operations often leave local departments to manage the consequences without having set the policy in the first place.

“Plain and simple, in 2026, local police departments should not be turned into federal immigration agents,” Tisch said. “When federal immigration operations come into a city and generate fear, anger, unrest, local police do not get to walk away from the consequences.”

While Tisch’s support carried symbolic weight, Hochul’s bill would not materially alter NYPD operations, as none of New York City’s counties have entered 287(g) agreements. 

Critics push for more protections against ICE

Still, some immigrant advocates and lawmakers argue the proposal does not go far enough.

Sponsors of the New York for All Act, State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Karines Reyes, praised Hochul’s move as a “good first step” but warned that it leaves intact other forms of cooperation that continue to bind local agencies to federal immigration enforcement.

Even without 287(g) agreements, they noted, local departments can still share information with ICE, grant facility access, and notify federal agents when individuals are in custody.

“While the governor’s proposal may eliminate the most formal arrangement of coordination between local law enforcement and ICE, it allows other pervasive forms of collusion to continue that erode public trust and safety,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

The New York for All Act would go further, barring state and local agencies — including police and sheriffs— from “colluding with ICE, disclosing sensitive information, and diverting personnel or other resources to further federal immigration enforcement.”

Hochul has not endorsed that bill, instead presenting her proposal as a measured first step.

Taken together, Hochul’s proposal and Mamdani’s executive order mark an escalation in New York’s push to prevent local public employees and facilities from being folded into a federal immigration agenda — particularly as ICE expands its use of financial incentives to enlist cooperation from counties and local police departments.