New York will enact a new package of protections for immigrants from federal immigration officers, who will face new accountability measures.
Tim Fanning / Times Union
Advocates have rallied at the state Capitol this year for stronger immigrant protections several times.
Will Waldron/Times Union
ALBANY — New York will provide non-citizens with a slate of new protections against federal immigration officers, who will also face certain restrictions and accountability measures under legislation set to be approved Thursday.
Those measures are included in a section of this year’s state budget negotiated between Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrats in the state Legislature.
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The package is intended to limit the reach of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, where Democrats at both the state level and in large cities have been critical of its officers and the agency’s operations over the past year.
But the measures are also expected to be a test of the state’s ability to place limits on federal operations. Democrats have already said they expect the state to face litigation over the changes.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes said the package will not prohibit local law enforcement officers from contacting ICE if they suspect someone to be a noncitizen.
Will Waldron/Times Union
“We have a responsibility to protect our constituents, protect our neighbors and to stand for values we all believe in,” said state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat, who then referred to President Donald J. Trump’s border czar: “So, frankly, Tom Homan can shove it.”
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The package can be broadly divided into two parts: new protections for non-citizens and accountability measures aimed at ICE officers.
Partnership ban
Among the most significant changes included in the legislation is a new ban proposed by Hochul this year on what are called 287(g) agreements between local law enforcement agencies in New York and ICE.
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Those agreements allow local officers to be deputized by ICE to assist with detaining non-citizens targeted for deportation, including by making arrests and holding them in county jails, in exchange for federal funding.
“Our local law enforcement and state law enforcement should not be complicit in the Trump administration’s federal immigration enforcement,” said state Sen. Julia Salazar, who had sponsored a separate bill to ban ICE detention in New York’s prisons and jails.
The new law will bar local law enforcement agencies from entering into those agreements with ICE. Seven counties and one village currently hold such agreements, which will be void following the legislation’s passage.
Nassau County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, has said he plans to sue over the part of the package that will bar local law enforcement from entering into agreements with ICE.
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Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican running for governor whose county has such an agreement with ICE, has already pledged to sue the state over that change.
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“It’s not constitutional and it’s boneheaded to say my police department and sheriff’s department can’t cooperate with federal agencies who are lawfully doing their job,” Blakeman said in Albany earlier this month.
But Democrats in the state Legislature were unable to convince Hochul to include language in the final package that would explicitly prevent law enforcement officers from contacting ICE when they suspect someone is a non-citizen.
“I would characterize this package as doing a great deal on ICE accountability but not going as far as it needs to on preventing the type of ICE cruelty that we’re seeing happening,” Gounardes said.
Local governments, however, will be prohibited from allowing their employees outside of law enforcement to assist ICE unless they are presented with a warrant signed by a federal judge. The same restriction will apply to state employees.
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That means personnel at an array of public entities, including schools and hospitals, will be barred from assisting federal officers without a judicial warrant.
The legislation will also prohibit local governments from contributing financially, including through subsidies, toward the construction or operation of immigrant detention facilities in their communities.
State Sen. Julia Salazar sponsored a standalone bill that made it into the package that will prohibit state and local correctional facilities from being used for immigrant detention.
Will Waldron/Times Union
If a private entity seeks to construct such a facility, local governments will be restricted from approving permits and zoning for the project for at least six months after a public notice is issued and two public hearings are held.
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But the legislation will also provide broader protections for non-citizens who might fear being detained by federal officers at certain privately owned locations.
Federal officers won’t be allowed, without permission or a warrant signed by a federal judge, to enter health care facilities, child care centers, houses of worship, housing accommodations, non-public schools, parks or polling places.
Child care facilities will also have to create procedures for when a parent or guardian can’t pick up their child, including in the even they are detained by officers, instead of immediately contacting child protective services.
The legislation will also establish in state law that all children are entitled to attend public school in New York regardless of immigration status,and require state education officials to inform districts what to do if ICE officers show up.
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Mask restrictions
While the bulk of the bill falls into the first bucket of protections for non-citizens, the legislation also includes two measures intended to discourage ICE officers from acting with impunity.
The first will prohibit law enforcement officers — including those at the local, state and federal levels — from wearing masks or concealing their identities when interacting with the public.
There will be exceptions for when masks are used for medical safety, camouflage, religious purposes and when an officer is in the midst of an active undercover operation.
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The package includes a proposal from Gov. Kathy Hochul that will bar local law enforcement agencies from entering into formal agreements with ICE to assist with federal immigration enforcement.
Will Waldron/Times Union
The second provision will create a new ability for individuals to file lawsuits against ICE officers in state court for alleged violations of constitutional rights.
Plaintiffs will be able to seek damages for emotional distress, pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages if the behavior is found to have been malicious or in reckless disregard of someone’s rights.
That provision will be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025, meaning plaintiffs would be able to bring those lawsuits for any actions that occurred between then and now, and moving forward.
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The state attorney general’s office will also have a new Office of Immigrant Trust to investigate allegations of unlawful cooperation between federal immigration officers and state and/or local entities.
Democrats said they intend to pursue additional immigration policies next year. The current legislative session is scheduled to conclude June 4.