Advocates for expanding immigration protections are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to go beyond her proposal to ban agreements between local enforcement and federal immigration officials, which would sunset in three years \u2013 after the end of President Donald Trump\u2019s term. She told City & State she is open to negotiating all aspects of the proposal. But the governor still found herself at odds with activists and lawmakers on whether abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are unique to Trump.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a Friday Caucus Weekend panel on New York for All, Assembly Member Karines Reyes \u2013 the sponsor of the expansive immigrant protection bill<\/a> \u2013 called Hochul\u2019s proposal \u201ca good first step,\u201d but that she needs to go further. The governor\u2019s program bill would outlaw so-called 287(g) agreements with ICE, a major component of New York for All, but does not include all aspects of the proposal from lawmakers to end all forms of collaboration between ICE and local governments.<\/p>\n Reyes also took issue with the way Hochul\u2019s proposal<\/a> was seemingly timed to just apply to the Trump administration. The language<\/a> presented by the governor stated that the law would be repealed on July 1, 2029. \u201cWe know that ICE has been a rogue agency that has been terrorizing our communities even before Trump was in office,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cWe want to make sure that those protections are permanent for New Yorkers.\u201d She called Hochul\u2019s automatic repeal provision \u201cvery troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition concurred with Reyes. \u201cIt didn’t start with Donald Trump and his administration,\u201d he said at the Friday panel. \u201cIt’s been happening for decades at this point, but we are seeing the true face of this agency continue to do the horrors that they are doing.<\/p>\n Hochul told City & State that she is \u201copen to having conversations about every element\u201d of her proposal when asked whether she would consider removing the sunset provision. She said the decision was meant to assure those who may be \u201cresistant\u201d of the measure that it is meant to be temporary. According to Hochul, the problems with ICE currently are unique to Trump. \u201cThe way deportations are being handled under Trump is what we are rejecting,\u201d she told City & State. \u201cYes, it is not done lawfully, it is not done the way it had been done in the past. And so yes, there is an argument to say that this is specific to this era.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n