{"id":372516,"date":"2026-10-14T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T01:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372516\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T01:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T01:00:09","slug":"blakeman-blasts-hochul-for-sanctuary-policies-after-nyc-ice-shooting-during-contentious-gov-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372516\/","title":{"rendered":"Blakeman blasts Hochul for sanctuary policies after NYC ICE shooting during contentious gov debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

GOP challenger Bruce Blakeman <\/a>attacked Gov. Kathy Hochul early and often on the Empire State\u2019s sanctuary policies and affordability as federal policy loomed large during the sole gubernatorial debate Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

The incumbent Dem leader of the state was seemingly put on her back foot throughout the debate on television\u2019s NY1, forced to defend her pro-migrant policies when the two were pressed on the ICE shooting of a Dominican man in NYC<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was the guy doing in the state in the first place?\u201d Blakeman railed<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s a gangbanger.
\u201cYou have invited criminals to come into our state and prey on our or our communities,\u201d Blakeman added. \u201cAnd now you won\u2019t let local law enforcement cooperate with ICE in an orderly way like we did in Nassau County.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewA debate between New York governor candidates Bruce Blakeman and Kathy Hochul kicks off as they make their pitch to voters. Spectrum News<\/p>\n

Hochul fired back, defending her policies \u2013 which limit state law enforcement\u2019s cooperation with federal immigration officials, saying the local police can still work with the feds on nearly 200 crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d be fine if ICE agents didn\u2019t shoot into cars, shoot guns into vehicles, not knowing who\u2019s inside and could have killed a 5-year-old child,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that doesn\u2019t shock the conscience of everybody, it should shock his conscience as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the debate in Chelsea Market, the sitting gov continually tried to tie Blakeman to President Trump.<\/p>\n

\"AThe New York City Police Department stated that no police officers were involved in the ICE shooting. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

The Republican president, a friend of Blakeman, loomed large in Hochul\u2019s defense and attacks, mentioning the president more than a dozen times in the hour-long segment, leading to Blakeman to eventually blurt out \u2014 \u201cThat\u2019s all you can talk about.\u201d
But surprisingly, Mayor Zohran Mamdani was barely brought up, despite Blakeman using the young socialist to drum up support from independents who are uneasy with the far-left mayor\u2019s policies and Hochul\u2019s close relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many Republicans \u2014 and even some Democrats \u2014 are highly leery of socialism and the hectic Democratic Socialists of America, and have used extreme lefty lawmakers in ads across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In New York \u2014 which has about 5.8 million registered Democrats to the Republicans\u2019 2.7 million voters \u2014 that MAGA bromance could be an ace in the hole for Gov. Hochul, who is currently polling roughly 10 points ahead of Blakeman.<\/p>\n

Hochul snagged the governorship with an unexpectedly-close 6-point margin over Republican Lee Zeldin in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on the Bronx ICE shooting:<\/p>\n

But Blakeman is holding out hope that Tuesday could set the stage for an upset on Election Day next month.<\/p>\n

Zeldin\u2019s loss was the closest a Republican has come to winning New York\u2019s governorship in more than 20 years, inspiring hope for a clincher from Blakeman this election cycle \u2014 especially since the vast majority of New York state votes predominantly red, while the Blue Big Apple routinely carries Dems to victory.<\/p>\n

But each other\u2019s allies were sure to be just one course in the night\u2019s feast of fury.<\/p>\n

It comes three weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election, with recent polls from Emerson College and PIX 11 placing Hochul ahead of Blakeman by about 52% to 40%, with about 8% of voters still undecided.<\/p>\n

Those numbers have been shifting in recent months, with Blakeman inching within about 9 points of Hochul at the end of September.<\/p>\n

Blakeman tossed New York\u2019s crushing affordability problems all over Hochul and pushed his aggressive income tax reduction plan in turn.<\/p>\n

Hochul, meanwhile, touted affordability measures she\u2019s rolled out and proposed \u2014 including energy bill rebates and childcare subsidies \u2014 while saving a few digs for Blakeman\u2019s lack of pushback against Trump\u2019s 2025 tariffs, the widespread measure critics have blasted to fanning rising costs.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s sanctuary laws were also expected to be a prime Hochul punching bag for Blakeman, especially after the Thursday ICE shooting in the Bronx that left wounded an illegal immigrant and suspected gangbanger \u2014 who leftist Hochul allies like Mamdani demanded be released.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that doesn\u2019t shock the conscience of everybody and it should shock his conscience as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GOP challenger Bruce Blakeman attacked Gov. Kathy Hochul early and often on the Empire State\u2019s sanctuary policies and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1626,4117,2035,426,57,46937,9,56,13895,63,65,136388,64,58],"class_list":["post-372516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-debates","tag-ice","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-ny-governor-election-2026","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-ice-shooting-2026","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372516","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=372516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}