Reporter's Notebook Criminal Justice New York State Immigration

Videos Reignite Fight Over Oswego County Border Patrol Calls

Footage published by New York Focus sparked a debate over deputies’ practice of calling Border Patrol on Spanish-speaking drivers.

Sammy Sussman · May 21, 2026

The Oswego County Sheriff's Office visitation center. | Oswego County Sheriff's Office

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A heated debate over police collaboration with federal immigration enforcement kicked off in Oswego County, north of Syracuse, after New York Focus reported that deputies in the county sheriff’s office have repeatedly held Spanish-speaking drivers at traffic stops while they called and then waited for Border Patrol.

New York Focus obtained hours of body-worn camera footage revealing at least a dozen such instances, which potentially violated state law and resulted in immigration agents arresting at least eight people. The footage shows officers making disparaging comments about immigrants. One deputy remarked, “You should be forced to speak English when you come here.”

The reporting brought new attention to an effort by Democrats in the Oswego County legislature to ban collaboration with immigration authorities. Four residents, including some who are running for office, urged lawmakers to pass the measure at a legislature meeting last week.

A screenshot from a police body camera shows a person in a car, his face obscured by the officer's hands holding a phone. The caption shows the officer saying "Is there a border patrol that speaks Spanish?"

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“What I saw is unprofessionalism at least and at worst outright racism and harassment by the Oswego County Sheriff’s Office,” said Colette Badger, who is running for a seat on the county legislature and who described herself the mother of a local law enforcement officer. “It made me physically ill to hear some of the language.”

“Foreign language can sound strange, but it isn’t scary,” said Jim Cannon, who’s running for state Assembly. “It certainly shouldn’t be a cause for a grown to spew obscenities and make xenophobic statements.”

One resident spoke in support of the actions seen in the video.

“It upsets me to hear the things that are said about our local sheriff’s office,” said Chareise Wills, a local legislator in the Town of Scriba. “People that are here illegally are committing crimes. They don’t, mostly don’t, have respect for our country and our way of life, and—”

“That is not true,” someone in the room objected.

After the meeting, New York Focus published a second video from a different traffic stop in which a deputy stopped a man for failing to signal before he made a turn. Border Patrol arrested the man at the scene; as he was led from his car in handcuffs, a woman cried on a call placed through the car’s speakerphone.

Sheriff Don Hilton did not respond to repeated inquiries from New York Focus before the initial story was published. His office subsequently released a statement defending the actions of his officer.

“Due to the language barrier, the deputy chose not to physically detain the driver and instead requested a translator to not escalate the situation,” Hilton wrote. “Once the deputy completed his investigation and processed a violation and misdemeanor level arrest, the driver was turned over to Border Patrol for their investigation.”

Hilton, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote that the county is a “haven for those who break the law.” He claimed that deputies have called Border Patrol since at least the Obama administration for translation support at traffic stops.

Some local politicians have tried to change that.

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In February, Democrats in the county legislature introduced a bill that would ban collaboration between immigration authorities and the sheriff’s office. The bill failed in committee on a party-line vote. (The legislature currently has seven Democrats and 18 Republicans.)

Minority Leader Marie Schadt told New York Focus that she was horrified by the video and the sheriff’s response, and that her caucus will again try to pass the bill.

“Instead of defending what happened in the video, he should be condemning the racist actions of the deputy,” Schadt said. “My constituents do not condone this behavior or want their tax dollars funding it.”

She was not surprised by the comments from local residents. “No collusion is a hot button in deep red Oswego County,” Schadt said.

A local farmer told her that he was struggling to find experienced workers as a result of the sudden increase in immigration arrests in the county, Schadt added. “Get ready for very expensive food prices,” she said.

The Majority Leader of the Oswego County Legislature did not respond to a request for comment.

Immigration advocates have pushed for a state-level ban on police collaboration with federal immigration enforcement absent a judicial warrant, as some other states have enacted, but those efforts appear to have failed this year. Instead, Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are set to prohibit formal contracts with immigration authorities, while leaving informal collaboration — like the kind seen in Oswego County — untouched.