Over the weekend, while holding a news briefing on the winter storm that walloped much of New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul took a brief moment to deliver a message to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem:
“I’m calling on her to resign as Secretary of Homeland Security, or Donald Trump to do the right thing and just fire her,” Hochul said.
The governor invoked the ICE killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in her address, arguing that Noem has overseen an agency that is out of control and should otherwise be impeached.
“She has shown a profound disregard for human life and created a culture where people feel unrestrained in how they are handling encounters with the people in this country. Kristi Noem has forfeited her right to lead,” she said.
Hochul likewise called on Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino to resign.
Hochul’s Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, blasted the governor, pointing to a statement from Hochul in which she said Secretary Noem offered assistance to New York relating to the snowstorm and the governor told her the fastest way to help would be to have ICE back off so that people would “feel safe” accessing warming centers and other sensitive locations.
“Kathy Hochul turned down Federal help for New Yorkers during a winter storm so she could score political points with cop haters … Hochul should focus more on protecting New Yorkers than fighting with Secretary Noem,” he said.
A source told Spectrum News 1 that no federal assistance was actually turned down and there are no requests from local governments to the state that are outstanding.
It comes as state lawmakers have returned to Albany this month to begin work on the state budget in the shadow of political battles over immigration and what role the state can or should play.
State Sen. Pat Fahy told Spectrum News 1 that Democrats in the State Legislature are preparing to respond. Around 100 of them plan to sign onto a letter with about 10 other states condemning the situation in Minneapolis and to call for an independent investigation, and will hold a rally to commemorate the signing at the Capitol on Wednesday.
“It would be to gather as many legislators as possible to say we stand with Minneapolis; this is not who we are; we must have an independent investigation here,” she said.
Fahy is pushing multiple measures this session that relate to resisting the Trump administration’s immigration policies. One would prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks in the course of enforcement, and another would create a dashboard to monitor ICE activity in New York.
Fahy is also one of many lawmakers pushing for the New York For All Act, which would significantly limit state and local cooperation with ICE.
“I am fully supportive of NY for All, which is one of the major umbrella bills,” she said. “There’s a number of bills, I think you’re going to be hearing a lot more about them. I was pleased that the governor referenced a few bills in her state of the state.”
Hochul is largely seen as striking a middle ground when it comes to immigration enforcement in her executive budget. The governor is proposing to prohibit ICE enforcement without a warrant in sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and places of worship while expanding opportunities for legal action if ICE violates an individual’s constitutional rights.
Republicans in the state legislature are gearing up to resist those efforts, insisting that sanctuary state policies are to blame for the situation in Minneapolis and the two shootings.
Republican state Sen. George Borrello called the two shootings “tragic” but accused Hochul of using the situation for political gain in her call for Noem’s resignation.
“At the very least, I think the governor is playing politics with a tragic situation, but when you have sanctuary policies, you are basically saying we are going to resist, we are not going to cooperate and I think that leads to dangerous situations,” he said.
Borrello said that the state legislature passing more laws which are designed to limit cooperation with ICE will result in more situations like what’s happening in Minneapolis, and called for federal funding to be pulled for states that don’t sufficiently support federal authorities.
“If you are a sanctuary state that says ‘we’re going to protect murderers, rapists, pedophiles and gang members,’ then you’re protecting everybody and you’re forcing the federal government to go in and go after everybody, and that to me is the flaw with sanctuary policies,” he said. “I think the best strategy for the federal government is to tell these folks, ‘we’re leaving and we’re taking our money with us.’ ”