New York officials have conducted “countless exercises” to prepare for a threatened surge of federal immigration agents in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday, even as she acknowledged that the state still does not know what the potential operation would entail.
“We’ve had countless exercises with our partners in local government, the City of New York, NYPD, our coalition partners here about how to manage for that,” Hochul said at an immigration roundtable in Jackson Heights on June 11.
But Hochul said officials do not know whether President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, is planning a broad deployment or a more targeted operation.
“We don’t really know,” she said.
Hochul has not spoken directly with Trump or Homan since the border czar said Monday that he had reviewed an operational plan to send more ICE agents into New York City than ever before.
The governor said members of their staff were communicating to determine what federal officials are planning and to explain New York’s recently enacted immigration laws, but so far were none the wiser.
Homan tied the threatened deployment to restrictions Hochul signed last month, limiting cooperation between state and local agencies and federal civil immigration authorities.
Hochul to Trump and ICE: ‘I am not asking you to come’
Gov. Kathy Hochul held a roundtable to talk with Jackson Heights residents with concerns over Immigration Enforcement on June 11, 2025.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Hochul said the threat appeared to contradict an assurance Trump had previously given her during a meeting of governors that his administration would come to New York only if she requested it.
“I am not asking you to come,” Hochul said Thursday.
Asked whether a deployment would damage her working relationship with Trump, Hochul dismissed the concern.
“I don’t care about relationships at this point,” she said, adding that her priority was defending New York’s laws and protecting its residents.
The governor offered few details about the exercises officials had conducted. She did not say what scenarios had been rehearsed, who would lead a response, or what state and local police would be instructed to do if a large federal operation triggered protests or public disorder.
As part of the legislative package she signed, Hochul said New York would not allow its personnel or resources to be used for civil immigration enforcement. She said the state would cooperate when federal authorities have a warrant based on probable cause that a crime was committed, but local officers should remain focused on preventing and investigating local crime.
The prospect of a federal deployment has taken on added urgency as New York hosts World Cup events expected to draw large crowds and international visitors over the next month. The first game taking place across the river at MetLife Stadium is on Saturday.
Hochul said public immigration arrests could create the kind of chaos seen during federal operations in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, damaging the economy, frightening immigrant communities, and increasing the potential for violence while the world’s attention is on New York.
Visitors should see a state and country where immigrants are welcomed and able to celebrate, she said, “not arrested in the streets in front of cameras.”
Hochul also challenged the factual basis for Homan’s stated justification for the surge.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” she said.
New York City has never participated in the federal 287(g) program, which allows state and local law enforcement agencies to carry out certain federal immigration-enforcement functions. Hochul said only nine of New York’s 62 counties currently have such agreements and that the state’s new restrictions do not take effect for 90 days.
She questioned why the administration would cite the new law to justify increased enforcement, specifically in New York City.
“It is irrational and shows that they do not comprehend what is happening in the state of New York,” Hochul said.
The governor also faced questions about New York’s new prohibition on most law enforcement officers wearing masks during public interactions. Federal immigration officials have previously said they do not intend to comply with the restriction.
Pressed on what the state could do if federal agents continue wearing masks, Hochul pointed to an expected court fight rather than describing an immediate enforcement response.
She said she believes the law will withstand a legal challenge because it applies broadly to law enforcement rather than singling out ICE.
“Once a court rules, they have to follow the law,” Hochul said. “No one is above the law.”
Immigrant advocates at the roundtable said the threat of stepped-up enforcement was already changing daily life in Queens and warned that fear of immigration arrests could keep families away from World Cup watch parties, restaurants and commercial corridors in neighborhoods such as Jackson Heights.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said community organizations were already helping families learn their rights, make emergency plans and obtain legal services.
He said immigrant New Yorkers did not need to wait for a formally announced surge because federal enforcement had already escalated.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.