Gov. Kathy Hochul revealed last month that she supports restricting state coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but some state lawmakers and advocates want her to go further and emulate New York City’s sanctuary policies.

On Jan. 30, Hochul said she’s backing three proposals aimed at curbing federal immigration enforcement across the state.

But now, Hochul is being pressured to take it up a notch.

What You Need To Know

Gov. Kathy Hochul has already backed three proposals aimed at curbing coordination between New York state and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

NY1 has learned state Senate Democrats have formed a working group to push broader limits on information sharing

Lawmakers are weighing the “New York for All Act” to limit communications between state and local governments and federal officials

Legislative sources told NY1 a vote could come as early as next month

“A lot of my colleagues — myself included — want to go even further than the governor,” said Manhattan Democratic Assemblyman and congressional candidate Micah Lasher.

Weeks earlier, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, pledged to pass the “New York for All Act.”

“Governor Hochul’s proposal limits formal contract agreements between local law enforcement authorities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, but does not prohibit information sharing either between law enforcement and immigration officials or between other city and state institutions,” said Jodi Ziesemer of the New York Legal Assistance Group.

“Schools, hospitals [and] Department of Motor Vehicles would still be able to informally share information of people’s sensitive data with ICE,” she said.

Since then, NY1 has learned Stewart-Cousins quietly assembled a working group of state Senate Democrats to craft proposals that would limit information sharing between state and local governments and federal officials, similar to restrictions already in place in New York City.

“The time is now to get something done. We are watching our neighbors. We’re watching people in our community every single day be subject to violation of their constitutional rights,” said Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie.

While a 2017 executive order limits state action, New York City’s sanctuary laws go the furthest, barring ICE from operating inside city jails and preventing the NYPD from honoring most civil detention requests.

Exceptions apply in cases involving convicted felons, individuals placed on a terrorist watch list or when a judicial warrant is served.

“There’s a difference between collaboration, cooperation and communication. So what we’ve always done is we’ve communicated with our federal partners,” said Jillian Snider, a former NYPD officer and lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“But NYPD specifically, we do not collaborate in terms of working together to enforce immigration laws. That’s just not our job,” she added.

Following heightened ICE activity in Minneapolis, Hochul and other moderate Democrats have sought to draw a distinction between supporting New York police and halting civil immigration enforcement.

“Having targeted rules that we know are threats to public safety, most people will agree. They don’t want to be around serious, violent felons. They don’t want their constituents or their community members to be around that. So making sure that’s defined, I think that would definitely be better, or more practical proposal, than just a blanket prohibition,” Snider said.

One Hochul-backed bill would end agreements between local police departments, their jails and ICE until 2029.

Some lawmakers want to make that prohibition permanent.

“I don’t think this issue disappears with the change in administrations. We have, again, seen immigration, especially with the funding that they are now receiving and the staffing that they have increased. We’re likely to see aggressive immigration enforcement continue beyond the Trump administration,” Ziesemer said.

Another proposal would create a pathway to sue federal officials for alleged violations of constitutional rights.

“We have to have a measure to hold you accountable right now that exists for state and local officials. It does not exist for federal officials. So we’re just trying to get things in alignment. We are facing some constitutional issues,” said Myrie, who sponsors one of the bills under discussion.

“There is no place for the trampling of New Yorkers’ civil liberties and abuse and violence at the hands of federal officials in ICE. That’s why we have to pass New York for All. That’s why we have to pass legislation to keep ICE out of sensitive locations,” Lasher said.

Legislative sources told NY1 they aim to pass legislation as early as next month.