Opinion: Only the New York for All Act can end local officials’ collaboration with ICE

On Nov. 30, 22-year-old Esteban and his wife were pulled over while driving to church in Port Chester, NY. The police said the stop was for tinted windows. Initially, the couple was told their car would be towed and that they needed to pay a fine. Instead, Esteban was handcuffed and brought to the local police department, where police held him all day to wait for ICE officers to arrive. That afternoon, still inside the precinct, he was transferred to federal immigration agents. Despite having Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and no criminal record, he was whisked away and is now languishing in detention in Louisiana.

Esteban is one of the thousands of New Yorkers who have been victims of the Trump administration’s violent and often lawless mass deportation agenda. The country has been justifiably horrified by the ongoing violent displays of unchecked power in Minnesota, Chicago, Los Angeles and D.C. We cannot forget that in our state, lives are being turned upside down by the same federal overreach that is intent on destroying immigrant families and diminishing the rule of law. 

Two weeks ago, recognizing the severity of the crisis, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced new legislation that would prohibit local police from entering into formal agreements with federal immigration enforcement – commonly known as 287(g) agreements. This is a meaningful first step in protecting New Yorkers, particularly in the thirteen jurisdictions that have these agreements. However, Port Chester doesn’t have a 287(g) agreement in place, and the governor’s new bill would not have protected Esteban.

The reason why is because even without a formal 287(g) agreement, local officials can and do assist ICE with civil immigration enforcement. Port Chester police could have still shared information about Esteban with ICE or held him in custody for transfer. Under the New York for All Act, such informal collusion would also be prohibited.

Indeed, state and local employees regularly share data with federal immigration officials, such as individuals’ home or work addresses, notify ICE about when a person is being released from local custody and hold them in local facilities, allow ICE officers to access non-public areas of government facilities for civil enforcement activity and provide security and infrastructure support for ICE raids. As the Alleghany County police chief recently confirmed, ending 287(g) agreements wouldn’t change their practices.

New York for All, which I am a proud lead sponsor of along with state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, is the only legislation on the table that would truly end the collusion (both formal and informal) between ICE and local agencies around the state.

New York for All ensures what the governor proposes and more. Schools should be safe sites for all our students. Our children should not be worrying whether school police will put them in a pipeline to deportation, or whether their parents’ information will be shared with ICE when interacting with schools. Hochul’s legislation falls short of those protections and may offer a false promise to immigrant communities. We need to ensure that none of our resources are misused to tear apart New York’s families.

Instead of your local tax dollars being used for healthcare, school resources or public parks, they are being used to assist poorly trained, masked and often rogue armed agents as they roam the streets in paramilitary gear, wreaking havoc on the daily lives of immigrant and non-immigrant New Yorkers. 

A problem this dire deserves a comprehensive solution. We must stand up to the federal government’s abuse of power and send a clear message to Washington. We will not cower in the face of oppression and rampant unconstitutional abuse. 

We know that New Yorkers are disgusted by this cruelty. But unless we pass New York for All, our state will continue to be complicit in abetting this reign of terror. We owe it to all our families to finish the job.