Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and sheriffs across New York are threatening legal action against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul over her push to ban local cooperation agreements with ICE, a fight over who gets to control immigration enforcement and who gets swept up by it. Hochul is pushing to include sanctuary policies in New York’s 2027 fiscal budget, including a ban on 287(g) agreements, limits on ICE access to schools, hospitals and churches, and restrictions on informal cooperation with ICE.
Who Holds the Levers
Blakeman, who is also the Republican nominee for governor, said he has been in discussions with sheriffs across the state about filing a lawsuit. “Kathy Hochul can make my day, because as far as I’m concerned, we’re enforcing federal law in Nassau County, and a lot of the sheriffs throughout the state feel the same way,” Blakeman told Fox News Digital. “They’re mad as hell.”
Todd Hood, the sheriff of Madison County and Blakeman’s running mate, said the push to make New York a sanctuary state has set off anger among sheriffs across the state. “I have sheriffs from all over the state contacting me, and they are all very upset about this. Almost all of them disagree. There’s very few sheriffs who are on board,” Hood said. He also defended the 287(g) program, saying, “The 287 (g) program is absolutely amazing. It makes it so we don’t have to go into people’s houses.”
Hochul first introduced the measure to ban 287(g) agreements in January. She threatened at the time that if the measure is passed, those who fail to comply “will be taken to court for enforcement.” A 287(g) agreement permits local and state law enforcement officials to carry out certain immigration enforcement responsibilities under the direction of federal immigration enforcement agents.
Who Pays for Cooperation
There are 14 active 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies across nine New York counties. Under a 287(g) agreement, local law enforcement officers who arrest an illegal immigrant can notify ICE that the individual is in custody, allowing ICE to place a detainer on them. As a result, ICE can take custody of the individual directly from the local jail instead of having to locate and arrest them after they are released back into the community.
Hood said, “These people are criminals. They’re getting arrested. They’re coming into our jail, and they’re headed to the center about 40 minutes later after they get in,” and said, “It’s very safe and very effective, and we work together in law enforcement, that’s our job.” Nassau County signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE in February 2025, and since then approximately 3,200 illegal immigrants arrested by local police have been transferred to ICE custody.
Earlier this month, Elder Lopez Avalos, an illegal immigrant, was arrested for setting 10 cars on fire in Freeport. His charges were not bail-eligible, so Avalos was released. But because of Nassau County’s cooperation with ICE, federal agents arrived after his court hearing to detain him.
What They Call Order
Hood said the key to success in law enforcement is when all agencies and jurisdictions are working together, something he argued was lacking during ICE’s large-scale immigration crackdowns in Minnesota. He said, “Those local police should have been behind those agents, even if they’re not doing the actual immigration stuff. They should have been there and had their backs down there, and that’s a massive failure by that state and that won’t happen under Bruce’s administration.” Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s office for comment.
The dispute now sits inside New York’s 2027 fiscal budget fight, where sanctuary policies, 287(g) agreements, and limits on ICE access to schools, hospitals and churches are being treated as bargaining chips by officials at the top while local police agencies continue to decide who gets handed over to federal immigration agents and who gets left in the community.