Criminal Justice New York State Immigration

Hochul’s Deportation Stance Sparks Fear, Confusion

The governor’s announcement appears to expand New York’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities — but it’s not clear if the state has actually changed its policy.

Julia Rock and Chris Gelardi · February 1, 2025

Advocates say the confusion around Governor Hochul's recent comments highlights the need for a statutory standard governing collaboration with federal immigration enforcement. | Photos: Governor Kathy Hochul, Immigration and Customs Enforcement / Flickr

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Governor Kathy Hochul sparked confusion about New York’s role in deportation operations this week when her office released a list of four broad circumstances under which state officials can collaborate with federal immigration enforcement.

Her office told Gothamist that the state may cooperate with the feds when someone is “suspected of an immigration crime” or convicted of a state-level crime — categories far more sweeping than Hochul’s past comments suggesting that the state will only help the new presidential administration deport people convicted of “serious” offenses.

Experts aren’t sure whether to interpret the list as a change in state policy. The governor’s office did not answer questions from New York Focus about whether the list represents a new policy or whether state agencies had been notified about it, but said it was in line with an existing state executive order that limits collaboration between the state and federal immigration enforcement.

Zach Ahmad, policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the list “appears to be inconsistent in certain ways with the executive order” — but that the lack of an official policy makes it hard to say for sure.

A photo illustration showing Governor Kathy Hochul's face and migrants walking down a NYC street.

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“The confusing and sloppy way that all of this has been communicated to the public makes it hard to know exactly what the rules are and reinforces the need for uniform statewide legislation,” he said.

The governor’s announcement comes as President Donald Trump’s new administration tries to carry out his promised “mass deportations.” So far, there have not been mass raids on “sanctuary cities,” including New York City, as Trump pledged. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement has carried out smaller raids, and the promise of more has stoked widespread fear, with children reportedly staying home from school and street vendors shuttering their businesses.

Hochul has been vague as to how the state is going to respond to the federal efforts. She said in December that her office has a “whole list” of crimes, such as harming individuals and stealing property, that would trigger state collaboration in carrying out a deportation. A public records request for the list submitted by New York Focus has been delayed without explanation, and a spokesperson told the New York Post that Hochul was actually referring to the four broad categories.

“The confusing and sloppy way that all of this has been communicated to the public makes it hard to know exactly what the rules are and reinforces the need for uniform statewide legislation.”

—Zach Ahmad, NYCLU

After Trump took office the first time in 2017, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order prohibiting state officials from asking about or disclosing an individual’s immigration status, except in limited circumstances. Hochul reissued the order earlier this month, and her office claims that her recent announcement falls in line with it.

“These are four cases, which are consistent with [the executive order], where New York is able to coordinate with federal immigration officials,” the governor’s spokesperson, Avi Small, said over text.

The circumstances under which the state can cooperate with ICE, Small told New York Focus, are:

“When an individual has been convicted of a New York State crime”
“When an individual is suspected of an immigration crime”
“When coordination with federal immigration is relevant to the investigation of a crime committed in New York State”
“When an individual is suspected of a crime with potential multinational dimensions, such as participation in international drug cartels and gangs”

The second criterion in particular has set off alarm bells. Entering the US without authorization is a federal misdemeanor, while entering after being deported is a felony. If state agencies can cooperate with ICE if someone is suspected of either of those offenses, that could open the door to helping deport large numbers of immigrants.

Governor Kathy Hochul at the Fulton Transit Center on Friday, Jan 27, 2023. | Photos: Governor Kathy Hochul / Flickr

“A lot of people enter without inspection, especially recently. There’s almost an expectation that that’s how you would apply for asylum — you would cross the border and wait for Customs and Border Protection to pick you up,” said Lauren DesRosiers, director of the immigration law clinic at Albany Law School.

“If now New York is going to help identify those people and arrest them and bring them into detention — that’s a huge number of people, that’s children, that’s families, that’s grandmas, that’s everybody. I don’t think that’s Hochul’s intent, but that’s a way it could be interpreted.”

The lack of clarity has left immigrant rights advocates wondering what to expect.

“She’s sending mixed messages to people about whether or not they can trust state actors not to share sensitive information with ICE,” said Rosa Cohen-Cruz, director of immigration policy with the Bronx Defenders. “Her statements and the confusion they’ve caused are very dangerous.”

The advocates say the confusion highlights the need for a legal standard governing collaboration with federal immigration enforcement. Currently, New York state agencies largely do not work with the feds on immigration enforcement, but local governments can choose whether to collaborate. Advocates have backed legislation that would bar state and local entities from working with ICE and border officials, except in limited cases.

“Our priority should be keeping communities safe and keeping families together. We can do this with a consistent statewide standard that makes clear that local and state agencies are responsible for preventing crime, not enforcing federal immigration law,” said state Senator Andrew Gounardes, who sponsors the legislation, known as the New York for All Act. “Anything else is going to cause chaos and confusion.”

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting from the Trump administration. On Thursday, the federal Department of Transportation sent a memo to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other transit entities listing new priorities for federal funding — including that recipients cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, Crain’s New York reported.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement began an enhanced enforcement operation in Chicago Jan. 26, 2025. The operation included officers with the Department of Justice, the FBI, the DEA, the ATF and the U.S. Marshals Service. | Photos: Immigration and Customs Enforcement / Flickr

After Trump won the presidential election in November, questions arose as to how New York state would respond to his promise of mass deportations. While state authorities can’t outright prevent federal immigration enforcement, they can decline to assist — or even obstruct — the feds, who rely on localities for everything from data to enforcement personnel to detention space.

Some blue states, like Washington, launched support programs for families who’d be affected by ramped up ICE raids. Others, like New Jersey, Illinois, and Oregon, already had laws prohibiting state and local authorities from cooperating with deportations. Hochul took a different approach.

“Someone breaks the law, I’ll be the first one to call up ICE and say, ‘Get them out of here,’” Hochul said in November, after Trump’s election.

Immigrants who commit crimes are subject to the same justice system as citizens, whether or not they face immigration consequences.

“A person’s prior contact with the criminal-legal system does not provide justification for the state to then be colluding with ICE or using its resources for immigration enforcement,” argued Ahmad, of the NYCLU. “It’s not our job to do that.”

In November, Hochul declined to provide information on the extent to which the state would collaborate with federal immigration enforcement. The following month, she said she was coming up with “a full comprehensive approach” as to how the state would interact with ICE and that she would release it by the beginning of this year.

“I will not stand for children to be in fear in schools or people in churches cowering in basements out of fear and separating families.” —Governor Kathy Hochul. | Photos: Governor Kathy Hochul / Flickr

“Washington needs to know where we’re going to be helpful, what we’re going to do — and I’ll be very clear on this so everyone has no doubt in their mind what the situation will look like in the state of New York,” she said.

Hochul has not yet outlined a “comprehensive approach.” It was unclear if this week’s list provided to reporters is supposed to lay out such an approach, and whether it will be followed by an official order.

There are roughly 670,000 undocumented immigrants in New York state, the Fiscal Policy Institute and Immigration Research Initiative estimated in a recent paper. It’s unclear how many entered without authorization.

Critics say that allowing coordination between state and federal law enforcement can undermine public safety efforts by making people scared to call the police.

“The job of a governor is not the enforcement of immigration law,” said Muzaffar Chishti, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. “The job of a governor is to protect the public safety of the citizens of the state of New York. She was not elected to be the immigration czar and we have to be careful about how these actions are affecting public safety.”

Undocumented people and asylum seekers in New York City have been keeping their children home from school over fear of ICE raids, THE CITY reported. Hochul has said that’s not what she wants.

“I will not stand for children to be in fear in schools or people in churches cowering in basements out of fear and separating families,” Hochul said. “We have to stand up for these individuals.”