New York is nearing a budget agreement that would impose the state’s most extensive restrictions to date on local collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The measures include prohibiting counties from leasing jail facilities for civil immigration detentions, terminating formal 287(g) partnerships, and restricting when federal immigration agents may wear masks while on duty.
State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, stated Wednesday that approximately 95% of the proposed package had been finalized, with New York Governor Kathy Hochul and leading legislative Democrats working to close the deal nearly a month after the April 1 deadline.
The legislation expands upon the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act introduced by Governor Hochul on January 30, which initially targeted formal agreements that allow county officers to act as ICE agents. Lawmakers have since broadened the scope of the measure.
Current consensus provisions would prevent counties from contracting with ICE to house civil detainees in local jails, abolish 287(g) partnerships, and limit federal immigration agents’ ability to conceal their faces—a provision championed by State Senator Patricia Fahy, D-Albany. The package also expands “sensitive locations” exempt from warrantless ICE entry, adding state and local government properties such as schools and libraries with an optional inclusion for private sites.
The negotiation efforts nearly collapsed over narrower provisions. Governor Hochul had advocated for a “probable cause” exception allowing local police to share information with ICE when they suspected criminal activity. However, after pushback from advocates and Assembly Democrats, that language was removed. A subsequent proposal linking cooperation to “criminal investigations” was also eliminated, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
Heastie remarked Wednesday, “I think the center of gravity might be in that direction now, but I don’t think it’s been final.”
Hochul has described the package as a necessary check on aggressive federal enforcement. “There are people suffering right now because of the out-of-control ICE agents who are taking them literally from their work sites,” she stated Tuesday, emphasizing that those affected are “not the worst of the worst” the administration had pledged to target.
Meanwhile, some sheriffs have expressed resistance. About a dozen uniformed sheriffs visited the Capitol on Tuesday, and the New York State Sheriffs’ Association warned this week that the proposed restrictions would undermine interagency cooperation established after the 9/11 attacks and compromise public safety beyond immigration enforcement.
Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar, a Republican and former state senator, described the stance as “drawing a line in the sand.” State Senator Pat Gallivan, a Republican and former Erie County sheriff, stated that limiting cooperation would jeopardize public safety.
The political implications extend to this year’s gubernatorial race. Nassau County, led by Republican Bruce Blakeman—the gubernatorial candidate—has booked over 1,000 ICE detainees since October, the highest number in New York, under contracts that would be voided under the new restrictions. Blakeman characterized the proposed limitations as “more lunatic insanity from the left.”
Hochul confirmed that federal partnerships focused on serious crime, including those with the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, would remain intact.
