Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) in November, indicated he would reluctantly comply with New York’s new anti-ICE law. But in doing so, he intends to join a federal lawsuit challenging the measure.
The law in question bans local police from entering into or continuing their cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nassau was one of nine New York counties that had the agreements, which allowed state law enforcement agencies to detain illegal immigrants and conduct other immigration enforcement activities in coordination with the federal government.
Hochul’s statewide ban on the 287(g) cooperation agreements took effect Tuesday, forcing Blakeman to abide by the new law.
“This is one of the saddest days of my life as county executive,” the Republican official said at a Wednesday press conference.
“I am a law-and-order county executive,” he added. “I believe in the rule of law — even when it’s a bad law. And this is a very, very bad and dangerous law. But we don’t get to pick and choose the laws that we have to enforce or abide by.”
That said, Blakeman argued the law is “purely political” and “not designed to make us safer.”
Nassau previously intended to oppose the newly enacted law, but the county executive said there was no legal way to work around it.
Rensselaer County, led by County Executive Steve McLaughlin, a Republican, is refusing to end its ICE agreement while taking part in a lawsuit filed by 15 New York sheriffs this week. The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office will be the latest plaintiff challenging the anti-ICE law, Blakeman said.
Among the plaintiffs suing the state is Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, who is Blakeman’s running mate. Their ticket has President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The Republican gubernatorial hopeful’s comments came one day after New York Attorney General Letitia James issued subpoenas to Nassau’s law enforcement agencies as the law took effect.
Hochul criticized her opponent for failing to consider the deaths of U.S. civilians at the hands of ICE officers as “atrocities.” She has pointed to the fatal officer-involved shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota this year as justification for stricter limits on immigration enforcement in New York.
“If the killing of civilians at the hands of Trump’s ICE agents isn’t an atrocity to my opponent Bruce Blakeman, then he has no business running for higher office,” the Democratic incumbent posted on X.
Hochul is trying to fend off a challenge from Blakeman in her reelection bid for a second full term. So far, she seems successful.
Hochul is leading Blakeman by 10 points, according to a poll from Siena University released this month. Though the governor remains ahead, her lead shrank by half from a Siena poll conducted in June.