{"id":118282,"date":"2026-01-31T11:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T11:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/118282\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T11:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T11:53:11","slug":"bruce-blakeman-vows-to-work-with-ice-and-end-new-yorks-sanctuary-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/118282\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Blakeman vows to work with ICE and end New York’s sanctuary status"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman aims to address New Yorkers’ affordability concerns to reverse the trend of residents moving out of the state, and as part of that pitch to voters, he’s aligning himself with his old friend, President Donald Trump, and his crackdown on undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n

“I’ll\u00a0spend money on New Yorkers, not on people\u00a0who’ve\u00a0been here for 15 minutes. The whole\u00a0Sanctuary state program has been a disaster,” Blakeman, who currently serves as the chief executive of Nassau County, said in an exclusive interview at Newsweek’s Manhattan office on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In 2017, former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order that restricted state law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agents. Cuomo, in 2018, made another executive order stating that federal immigration agents can only make civil arrests at state facilities if they have a judicial warrant or order. New York City implemented similar sanctuary policies as early as 1989.<\/p>\n

“I would cooperate with ICE and I would sign an executive order the first day I get into office that we are no longer a sanctuary state,” Blakeman said.<\/p>\n

Beyond immigration, Blakeman is sounding the alarm on the high cost of living in New York, lamenting the fact that New Yorkers are leaving the state for more affordable places to live. He believes his record in Nassau County demonstrates a record of creating economic success, while he blames Democratic policies for causing the current problems.<\/p>\n

“There’s reasons why hundreds of thousands of people have left the state and gone to South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and Florida because they’ve gone to places where their families can live a better life, a more affordable life,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blakeman’s entrance into the 2026 governor’s race caused a stir among New York Republicans, who were largely aligning behind Representative Elise Stefanik. Trump had seen Stefanik as a close ally in Congress, while he had long been close with Blakeman as well. When asked about the developing primary between the two in mid-December, Trump described Stefanik and Blakeman as \u201ctwo fantastic people,” declining to throw full support behind either.<\/p>\n

Stefanik dropped out days later, citing her young son and saying she wanted to spend more time with her family. She also said she didn’t think it was good for Republicans to have an “unnecessary and protracted” primary. Many interpreted the decision as frustration with Trump for not endorsing her campaign.<\/p>\n

“I think\u00a0she’ll\u00a0have a very bright future if she wants to get back into politics,” Blakeman said when asked about her decision. He also described the congresswoman as “very effective” in Congress and as “very bright, very articulate.”<\/p>\n

While Trump endorsed Blakeman after Stefanik dropped out in December and the county executive appears all but certain to be the Republican nominee for governor, the general election in which he is expected to run against incumbent Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul will be an uphill battle. The last Republican to win the governorship in New York was George Pataki, who left office 20 years ago in 2006. <\/p>\n

Republicans, however, have made substantial gains in New York in recent election cycles. Trump lost to former Vice President Kamala Harris by 12.6 points in 2024, whereas former President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had both beaten him by about 23 points in 2020 and 2016, respectively. Republicans have also managed to flip and hold several formerly Democratic House districts in recent cycles.<\/p>\n

Blakeman notes that he also has won multiple times in a Democratic-leaning county.<\/p>\n

“I just won re-election in a county with 110,000 more Democrats than Republicans. And my county is\u00a0basically a\u00a0mirror image of the state.\u00a0Our demographics are almost exactly the same,” he said, adding that he “won in\u00a0landslide” because his constituents like his “policies.” Whether he can translate that success to the state level will be determined in November. <\/p>\n

Blakeman laid out more about his plans for New York’s economy, immigration concerns and his thoughts on Trump’s policies in a wide-ranging interview with Newsweek. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. <\/p>\n

Bruce Blakeman Interview Transcript<\/p>\n

Newsweek: First off,\u00a0we’ve\u00a0just had this\u00a0big storm\u00a0in New York.\u00a0How’s\u00a0your county doing?\u00a0And also,\u00a0what’s\u00a0your perspective on\u00a0the Governor\u00a0Hochul’s\u00a0response to the\u00a0situation?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruce Blakeman: My\u00a0county’s\u00a0doing very well. This was a problematic storm because of the frigid weather before the storm and after the storm, which makes the pavement very cold, and\u00a0it’s\u00a0harder to get down to where the pavement’s dry. But\u00a0we’re\u00a0doing\u00a0a great job.\u00a0We’ve\u00a0been out salting.\u00a0We’ve plowed all the roads a number of times, and every road is open.\u00a0People should just take a little extra time, not only driving, but when\u00a0they’re\u00a0walking. The sidewalks are still slippery. So just be careful. The frigid weathers are not helping us out at all. Usually by now, it\u00a0would\u00a0be pretty dry all over. But\u00a0it’s\u00a0doing\u00a0well.<\/p>\n

As far as Governor\u00a0Hochul’s\u00a0concerned,\u00a0I think she\u00a0made a terrible mistake\u00a0not accepting the aid from President Trump and from the federal government. She mentioned\u00a0ICE. I\u00a0don’t\u00a0know what ICE\u00a0has to\u00a0do unless\u00a0she’s\u00a0talking about the ice\u00a0that’s\u00a0on the pavement.\u00a0I\u00a0don’t\u00a0know what that has to do with storm management and accepting federal funds.\u00a0So\u00a0I just think that\u00a0she’s\u00a0very polarizing, and she\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0understand that the citizens come first. We\u00a0have to\u00a0take care of our people, make sure that they are safe and secure, and that includes making sure that we have the funds\u00a0necessary,\u00a0so\u00a0it’s\u00a0not a burden on the taxpayers when we\u00a0have to\u00a0have cleanups like this in a blizzard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s\u00a0been about two decades since New York had a Republican governor. Why do you think\u00a0you’re\u00a0going to be the candidate that will change that trend?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s\u00a0a very good\u00a0question.\u00a0So, I just won re-election in a county with 110,000 more Democrats than Republicans. And my county is\u00a0basically a\u00a0mirror image of the state.\u00a0Our demographics are almost exactly the same.\u00a0We have the same percentages of Hispanic Americans and Latinos. We have same percentage of African Americans. We have a same percentage of Asian Americans.\u00a0So\u00a0we are a\u00a0snapshot\u00a0pretty much of the State. And I won in\u00a0landslide because people like my policies. <\/p>\n

We are the safest county in America, according to one of your competitors. We are a place where\u00a0it’s\u00a0affordable to live because people are making more money because we invite business in, we create jobs, we want to create prosperity. The best way to make things affordable is to put more money in people’s pockets so they can make\u00a0the choices\u00a0on how they want to spend money.\u00a0So\u00a0we have a very prosperous county because\u00a0we’re\u00a0very\u00a0business-friendly. And I\u00a0haven’t\u00a0raised taxes in four years, not one penny. Even though inflation\u00a0was\u00a0at\u00a06 percent to 8 percent a year, we\u00a0didn’traise taxes at all. We hired more\u00a0cops, we hired more corrections officers, and\u00a0we’re\u00a0not only safe and secure,\u00a0we’re\u00a0prosperous and we are affordable. And\u00a0that’s\u00a0what I want to do in New\u00a0York State.<\/p>\n

There’s\u00a0more Democrats in New York State than Republicans, but\u00a0I believe\u00a0a large number of\u00a0Democrats are going to cross over and vote for me.\u00a0And also,\u00a0I’ve got a majority in my last election of independent voters, both women and men voted in the majority towards me.\u00a0I believe\u00a0I’ll\u00a0be able to do that in the state.\u00a0So\u00a0I’m\u00a0very confident\u00a0that I will be the next\u00a0governor of the state\u00a0of New York.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You mentioned Democrats, and of course, to win statewide,\u00a0you’re\u00a0gonna\u00a0likely need\u00a0some of them to vote for you. How specifically do you plan to reach out to those voters?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I’m\u00a0going to do it the same way I did as county executive. You know, when\u00a0you’re\u00a0talking to people, sometimes you have\u00a0disagreements. They may disagree with one policy I have or another policy that I have, but what I try to do with people is focus on where we can agree. What do you need for your community? What do we need to make your community better, more affordable, safer? And\u00a0that’s\u00a0what I did. I reached out to communities. I went to places where traditional Republicans\u00a0don’t\u00a0go, and I went there and listened to people, and I materially made their lives better, whether it was improving a museum, whether it was\u00a0improve\u00a0a roadway, whether was creating a\u00a0brand new\u00a0park.<\/p>\n

Those are things that I\u00a0did,\u00a0and I was able to garner a lot of support.\u00a0So\u00a0I don’t think that politics should be\u00a0polarizing,\u00a0and I think elected officials really need to concentrate. On being the elected official for everybody, Republican, Democrat, independent. And\u00a0that’s\u00a0what\u00a0I’ve\u00a0done.\u00a0That’s\u00a0why I get a majority of independent voters and a fair number of Democrats.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I’m\u00a0sure that there are some Democrats who are frustrated with some of the progressive and socialist policies going on in Albany and here in New York City. But then they might see an R next to your name, and they might be concerned about LGBTQ+ rights and abortion. What would you say to those concerns that some might have?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

First of all,\u00a0I’m\u00a0a pro-choice Republican.\u00a0So\u00a0the governor likes to talk about abortion when she runs against Republicans.\u00a0She’s\u00a0not going to be able to do that with me because\u00a0I am a\u00a0pro-choice\u00a0Republican. I believe that in the early terms of pregnancy,\u00a0it’s\u00a0a woman’s\u00a0body,\u00a0it’s\u00a0her right to choose, and she should make the decisions, along with her physician, on\u00a0whether or not\u00a0she wants to have a child.<\/p>\n

With respect to the other issues, again, when\u00a0you’re\u00a0the governor, your job is to create an affordable economy. You do that by creating jobs and economic prosperity. We are the highest taxed and highest regulated state in the United States. And therefore, businesses have been\u00a0leaving\u00a0in droves, taking good jobs, jobs that pay a lot of money and pay good benefits. I\u00a0wanna\u00a0bring those jobs back. I\u00a0wanna\u00a0nurture the businesses that are here. <\/p>\n

Again, there are policies like cashless bail that many Democrats, and I call them common-sense Democrats, they\u00a0don’t\u00a0agree with that.\u00a0They’re\u00a0against\u00a0that.\u00a0So\u00a0I think\u00a0they’re\u00a0gonna\u00a0look at me as an individual and not just as a Republican.\u00a0They’re\u00a0gonna\u00a0look at\u00a0me and my record\u2014my record of achievement.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0gotten seven bond upgrades from Wall Street on my\u00a0budgets. So\u00a0that’s\u00a0unprecedented;\u00a0it’s never happened. I did it without raising taxes, so I think people like that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You’ve\u00a0talked about economic issues and taxes. How specifically are you going to address affordability concerns in New York?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I have a different philosophy than Kathy Hochul. Kathy\u00a0Hochul\u00a0is driving businesses out of New York State because\u00a0we’re\u00a0over-taxed and\u00a0we’re over-regulated,\u00a0we’re\u00a0not business friendly.\u00a0There’s\u00a0a reason why\u00a0the stock exchange is moving offices to Dallas, Texas, from New York City. And the reason they’re doing that is because it’s more affordable and\u00a0it’s\u00a0business-friendly. There’s reasons why hundreds of thousands of people have left the state and gone to South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and Florida because they’ve gone to places where their families can live a better life, a more affordable life.<\/p>\n

My programs are designed to create jobs and to create prosperity. I want higher-paying jobs in New York State. I want more jobs. The more jobs there are, the more selective people can be, especially young people, on what type of\u00a0job\u00a0they want to spend the rest of their career in.\u00a0I think economic prosperity\u00a0is the way to make the state more affordable by putting more money in people’s pockets. We have a poverty rate\u00a0that’s\u00a0just unconscionable in New York state. Our poverty rate is 15\u00a0percent;\u00a015 percent of\u00a0all of\u00a0our residents live below the poverty level. I find that to be really a national disgrace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the policies that Governor\u00a0Hochul\u00a0and Mayor\u00a0Zohran Mamdani\u00a0put forward is extending free childcare to 2-year-olds. What do you think about that proposal, and how would you help New Yorkers\u00a0worried\u00a0about childcare?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

First of all, they only did it for New York City. So\u00a0that’s\u00a0eminently unfair to the rest of the state.\u00a0That’s\u00a0number one. Number two,\u00a0Mamdani\u00a0wants to give free\u00a0child care\u00a0to illegal migrants. More money that should go to the taxpayers is now going to illegal immigrants.\u00a0We’ve spent $5 billion in New York State, $7 billion in New York City, giving it to illegal migrants who’ve been here for 15 minutes.\u00a0They’re\u00a0undocumented. We\u00a0don’t\u00a0know where they came from. A lot of them are involved\u00a0in criminal activity, and that’s taxpayer dollars that are being spent on people who\u00a0haven’t\u00a0earned it. Free transportation, free phones, free lodging. It\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0make sense.<\/p>\n

What I believe in\u00a0is\u2014I\u00a0believe\u00a0tax credits for\u00a0child care. That way, you know\u00a0it’s\u00a0not going to be used for a fraudulent program. The people who need\u00a0the help\u00a0are going to get it. People who are gainfully employed will be able to get tax credits. For\u00a0child care\u00a0because\u00a0child care\u00a0is\u00a0an important issue\u00a0in New York State. There are families where both the husband and the wife are working, and they need child care for their child, and it’s getting very, very expensive. But again, I differ from\u00a0Hochul\u00a0and\u00a0Mamdani\u00a0because I\u00a0don’t\u00a0believe the city or the state should choose what\u00a0child care\u00a0you want to send\u00a0your kids to.\u00a0I believe it should be your choice, private institution, faith-based institutions. I\u00a0don’t\u00a0think it should be\u00a0city-run. I\u00a0don’t\u00a0think it should be run by the state because they do a terrible job running\u00a0everything.<\/p>\n

President Trump actually had\u00a0a very positive\u00a0meeting with\u00a0Mamdani\u00a0a few weeks back. He spoke very favorably\u00a0of\u00a0him. What did you make of that meeting? And did you disagree with Trump?\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Trump has a record of meeting with a lot of different people that he philosophically agrees with, disagrees with, I should say. And Zohran Mamdani and President Trump could not be more diametrically opposed in their philosophies, their ideology, and their programs and policies.\u00a0That being said, I\u00a0think President Trump wanted to\u00a0open up\u00a0the door to find common ground and find a basis to have a working relationship for the betterment of all of New York City. And I think\u00a0that’s\u00a0good for New\u00a0York City. I\u00a0don’t\u00a0think\u00a0there’s\u00a0anything wrong. <\/p>\n

I have not had any conversations with Zohran\u00a0Mamdani\u00a0as of yet. And\u00a0I’m\u00a0very concerned\u00a0on\u00a0some of the things that\u00a0he’s\u00a0done.\u00a0I’m\u00a0deeply concerned that he signed an executive order that\u00a0basically took\u00a0the definition of anti-Semitism that was approved by the Holocaust Memorial Council. And he completely rejected that after [former Mayor] Eric Adams instituted that. I was very curious as to why did you do that the first\u00a0week\u00a0you’re\u00a0in\u00a0office? Of all the things that you had to be concerned with, a blizzard, transportation, housing,\u00a0security\u00a0and law enforcement, you chose that.\u00a0It’s\u00a0very troubling to me. <\/p>\n

In addition, when I listened to his speech at his inauguration, he\u00a0basically denigrated\u00a0individualism. Individualism\u00a0created this great economy\u00a0in\u00a0New York City. He talks about collectivism. Collectivism is a code word for communism. And basically what it means is if you’re really hard working and you’re very bright, you have ingenuity, and you’ve built a lot of money, and you built a good business, and made a nice life for yourself, he’s going to take that money and give it to lazy people. I\u00a0don’t\u00a0agree with that philosophy.\u00a0It’s\u00a0never worked anywhere. Winston Churchill said, socialism is\u00a0shared\u00a0misery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And basically,\u00a0a\u00a0lot of people in New York State are miserable because of the policies of Governor\u00a0Hochul. And it looks to me like Zohran Mamdani\u00a0wants to make them more miserable.\u00a0As governor, I\u00a0won’t\u00a0let him do that. I\u00a0won’t let him destroy the economy of the city of New York.\u00a0And I\u00a0won’t\u00a0let them destroy the police department, the NYPD, which is a great law enforcement agency. I will fight to make sure that New Yorkers are safe, secure, and that they have an economy where people can prosper.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You’ve\u00a0been endorsed by\u00a0President Trump.\u00a0What’s\u00a0your assessment of his first year in office?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think\u00a0he’s\u00a0had an amazing first year.\u00a0Let’s take a look at it.\u00a0He passed a big, beautiful bill, which had a tremendous amount of tax cuts. It had scholarship money that you could, if\u00a0you\u00a0made a contribution\u00a0for a scholarship for education, you could deduct that from your taxes. Kathy Hochul\u00a0didn’t\u00a0opt\u00a0into\u00a0that. It was free money for the people of the state of New York. And because she\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0like President Trump, she\u00a0didn’t\u00a0opt\u00a0into it.\u00a0So\u00a0she’s\u00a0hurting the residents of the state of\u00a0New York, and\u00a0she’s\u00a0hurting their chances to be better educated.<\/p>\n

I like the fact that\u00a0he’s\u00a0very proactive with the Middle East and that he has built a situation now where there is peace in the Middle East and that you have Arab governments talking with the state with Israel. I think the action that he took against Iran was\u00a0absolutely essential. He needed to do that because Iran is a terrorist country. That is a threat to America,\u00a0it’s\u00a0a threat to the state of Israel, it is a threat to peace, and as\u00a0we’re\u00a0seeing right now, there’s protests that are very, very, very, active right now in Iran.\u00a0I think the people\u00a0are\u00a0rising up\u00a0now,\u00a0and\u00a0they’re\u00a0saying they want to throw these people out.\u00a0They’ve\u00a0been a totalitarian government\u00a0that’s\u00a0been oppressive to the people, and\u00a0I think that they\u00a0were a threat to everybody. If they\u00a0got\u00a0nuclear capability, it would be a threat to the\u00a0whole world, so.\u00a0I’m\u00a0very happy\u00a0that he took affirmative action there.<\/p>\n

And I like his war on drugs. I think the fact that he got Maduro and the\u00a0fact\u00a0he’s\u00a0intercepting these boats that carry poison that infect our communities and kill our children is\u00a0very positive.\u00a0So\u00a0I think that\u00a0basically he\u00a0has been doing\u00a0a good job.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One Trump policy\u00a0that’s\u00a0gotten a lot of criticism\u2014and\u00a0probably from\u00a0business leaders across New York\u2014is the tariffs.\u00a0What’s\u00a0your perspective on the tariff policy? Would you encourage them to change it?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

President\u00a0Trump is the ultimate negotiator, and\u00a0he’s\u00a0using the tariffs to negotiate better deals, which\u00a0ultimately will\u00a0be better for the men and women who work\u00a0each and every\u00a0day in our country and in our state. And the fact is that\u00a0we’ve\u00a0been getting ripped off by these countries for far too long, where our goods, we sell them over in their countries, and we get these\u00a0very high\u00a0tariffs. They sell goods here at\u00a0very low\u00a0tariffs. So\u00a0it’s\u00a0ruined our manufacturing base.\u00a0It’s\u00a0taken away union\u00a0jobs.\u00a0It’s\u00a0taking away jobs in communities that are suffering now throughout New York State. <\/p>\n

Great cities like\u00a0Buffalo and Rochester\u00a0and\u00a0Syracuse, they\u00a0used to be manufacturing capitals of the world. Now\u00a0they’re just a shell of their former existence. And I believe that what we need to do is build up manufacturing, bring in new businesses. And if\u00a0tariffs will\u00a0help do it,\u00a0I’m\u00a0all for it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You mentioned Kathy Hochul’s response to the storm, mentioning ICE. That’s\u00a0a huge news story in the country right now, the ICE situation in Minnesota specifically, but also across the country.\u00a0I believe you\u00a0previously suggested that you thought the shooting of Renee Goode appeared to be justified. Is that still your view? And\u00a0I’m\u00a0also curious, what are your thoughts on the more recent killing of Alex Pretti in Minnesota?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So both shootings are unfortunate, but they are the product of a governor and a mayor out of control in the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis.\u00a0Basically,\u00a0the\u00a0streets have been taken over by these paid professional thugs.\u00a0None of\u00a0them are Hispanic and Latino.\u00a0They’re\u00a0all white people who obviously are being paid or\u00a0they’vebeen brainwashed to interfere with law enforcement. I\u00a0don’t\u00a0think\u00a0it’s\u00a0right. For people to interfere with the law enforcement agencies that are trying to protect communities. Sure, you\u00a0wanna\u00a0protest, you can protest. Free speech is\u00a0very important\u00a0in our country, but\u00a0they’re\u00a0going beyond that.\u00a0They’re\u00a0engaging\u00a0the ICE agents.\u00a0They’ve\u00a0committed acts of violence.\u00a0They’ve\u00a0thrown bottles and rocks at ICE\u00a0agents;\u00a0it’s\u00a0gotta\u00a0stop. And we\u00a0don’t\u00a0have that lawlessness in Nassau County because I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0tolerate it, not for one minute.<\/p>\n

Look what happened here in New York City with the lawlessness by taking over Columbia University, blocking bridges, all by paid pro-Palestinian protesters; these are the same type of people, and they’re\u00a0probably paid\u00a0by the same source of funding. These are people who have anti-American values.\u00a0They’re\u00a0trying to change our culture, and I think that\u00a0basically it\u00a0has nothing to do with protecting immigrants.\u00a0I think they\u00a0want people in our country that\u00a0don’t\u00a0share our American values. They want people in our country that want to\u00a0hand\u00a0out so\u00a0they’lldeplete the resources of our country. And\u00a0I’m\u00a0100 percent against that.<\/p>\n

As governor,\u00a0I’ll\u00a0spend money on New Yorkers, not on people\u00a0who’ve\u00a0been here for 15 minutes. The whole Sanctuary State program has been a disaster. Billions and billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, people who work hard for this money, could have been used for tax cuts, could have\u00a0used\u00a0for new schools, could have been used for hospitals,\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0be used for infrastructure, could have been used to create jobs, and Kathy Hochul spent\u00a0$5 billion\u00a0of state\u00a0funds\u00a0and\u00a0she’s now going to subsidize the city to the tune of another\u00a0$7 billion.\u00a0It’s absolutely a\u00a0disgrace,\u00a0and I think it has to stop immediately.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given that New York has a large immigrant population\u00a0and\u00a0a lot of anti-ICE demonstrations as well,\u00a0and also\u00a0the sentiments are widespread, especially in New York City, how would you approach that as governor?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You’re not seeing it in Hispanic and Latino communities.\u00a0They’re\u00a0not protesting. I went to the Hispanic and Latino communities in my county, and I explained to the people in those communities why I was doing what I was doing. I was it to keep them safer.\u00a0It’s\u00a0their kids that would be recruited into gang activity.\u00a0It’s\u00a0their\u00a0streets that would have\u00a0homelessness,\u00a0homeless people on their streets.\u00a0It’s\u00a0their schools that would be overcrowded. This is a policy that’s completely misguided. Quite\u00a0frankly, there haven’t been a lot of protests because you can get\u00a0Hispanic\u00a0and\u00a0Latinos\u00a0who came here legally.<\/p>\n

They don’t want to fund illegal migrants. They earned everything that they got the people under this migrant program with\u00a0Biden-Harris\u00a0they came here under false pretenses claiming asylum and they’re\u00a0not entitled to\u00a0what Kathy Hochul has been giving them. It’s\u00a0a disgrace that\u00a0she’s\u00a0using our money to fund people who\u00a0don’t\u00a0deserve it. They\u00a0haven’t\u00a0been here; they\u00a0don’t\u00a0even have American values. They come here, take, take. They\u00a0don’t\u00a0love America. The immigrants that came here before, they loved America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I’m\u00a0all\u00a0for\u00a0immigration. I think we should have a guest worker program. I think that we\u00a0should\u00a0a program for people\u00a0who’ve\u00a0been here 10 years and maybe\u00a0overstayed\u00a0visa. And they have a family\u00a0here\u00a0and they’re law-abiding\u00a0and they gainfully employed.\u00a0I’m\u00a0for that.\u00a0I’m\u00a0pro-immigration, but the right way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Would you\u00a0anticipate\u00a0more cooperation with DHS and ICE at the state level and\u00a0more ICE raids, more ice activity, in New York State under your leadership?<\/p>\n

There are no ICE raids going on; that is\u00a0a fiction. What is happening is they have individuals who are here\u00a0illegally\u00a0and they have a criminal\u00a0record\u00a0and they are picking them up like you would expect them to pick up. Only these people who engage in violent acts against\u00a0ICE, they\u00a0are\u00a0subversive,\u00a0they want to stop that, for what reason? How\u00a0is that going to\u00a0make for\u00a0safer communities? Better neighborhoods. And\u00a0they’re\u00a0completely wrong and misguided.<\/p>\n

And yes, I would cooperate with ICE, and I would sign an executive order the first day I get into office that we are no longer a sanctuary state because we’re not\u00a0gonna\u00a0spend billions of dollars on people who came here from other countries and haven’t earned a thing. And\u00a0they’ve\u00a0been here, like I said, for 15 minutes and you\u00a0wanna\u00a0give them\u00a0free everything? We\u00a0don’t\u00a0do that with our citizens. Why should we do it for them?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another issue, the ACA subsidies, these Obamacare subsidies, are\u00a0expiring,\u00a0and\u00a0there’s\u00a0about 450,000 estimated New Yorkers that are going to be affected by that. Do you think\u00a0that’s\u00a0something that Congress should work in a bipartisan way to\u00a0extend,\u00a0or do you think\u00a0it’s\u00a0appropriate that\u00a0they’ve\u00a0expired?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think\u00a0we’re\u00a0at the point now where there\u00a0has to\u00a0be\u00a0compromise\u00a0in Congress.\u00a0Both sides have to give a little.\u00a0That’s\u00a0the way\u00a0I’ll\u00a0govern as governor. I realize\u00a0there’s\u00a0a lot of Democrats in this state, and\u00a0I’m\u00a0going to have to deal with them. And\u00a0I’ve\u00a0always found that if you sit down and you negotiate in good faith, you may not get everything you want, but as my parents told me when I was young,\u00a0a half\u00a0a loaf is better than none. So,\u00a0I think that both sides\u00a0are going to have to work that out. Because we\u00a0don’t\u00a0want people walking around that\u00a0don’t\u00a0have adequate health care.\u00a0That’s\u00a0not good for the health of the community.\u00a0That’s\u00a0not good for our economy.\u00a0That’s\u00a0bad for America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So\u00a0I do think that they have to get together and find\u00a0common\u00a0ground.\u00a0I think that the Republicans\u00a0are now willing to work.\u00a0We’ll\u00a0see with the Democrats. The Democrats so far have been just against anything\u00a0that’s\u00a0proposed by the Republicans. They just put it off to the side and say,\u00a0‘We’re\u00a0not going to deal with the Republicans.’ I think\u00a0that’s\u00a0a big mistake. I think both sides should\u00a0deal together. People are tired of seeing Republicans and Democrats fight. They want to see them get things done.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortly after you announced that you were running, Congresswoman Stefanik dropped out of the race. That was seen as her feeling slighted by Donald Trump. Have you talked to her? Do you\u00a0anticipate\u00a0her support in your campaign?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I’ve\u00a0let her have her privacy. She\u00a0indicated\u00a0that she wanted to take a\u00a0pause\u00a0in public life. Public life is a rough life, especially if you have a young\u00a0child. She has a young son. And she made a decision that she wanted to spend more time with the\u00a0family,\u00a0pursue other endeavors. And I wish her the best. She was\u00a0a very, very effective member of Congress.\u00a0She’s\u00a0very\u00a0bright,\u00a0very articulate. I think\u00a0she’ll\u00a0have a very bright future if she wants to get back into politics, but for now,\u00a0she’s\u00a0taking a pause, and I completely respect that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman aims to address New Yorkers’ affordability concerns to reverse the trend of residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1626,153,4370,2035,2301,426,9,24,55,54,56,7059,13631],"class_list":["post-118282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-donald-trump","tag-gop","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-republican","tag-u-s-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}