Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Implementation of Her New Law to Stand Against ICE Overreach and Ban 287(G) Agreements

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the statewide ban on 287(g) agreements in the Local Cops, Local Crime Act, signed into law in May as part of a comprehensive package of immigration protections, has taken effect. The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act ensures that local law enforcement agencies remain focused on keeping New York communities safe, rather than being used for federal civil immigration enforcement, diverting critical resources to do the job of ICE.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you. First of all, I want to acknowledge Chief Brendan Cox from the Albany Police Department has joined us Chief Tinti from the Kingston Police Department. Sheriff Jackie Salvatore was on her way. I don't know if she's been able to make it yet. I know Gabriella Romero has joined us, Assemblymember and any other partners in local government who I've not acknowledged because they're not on my list.

But please sit down, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Keeping people safe is my top priority. From the moment I took office five years ago yesterday, in this very room, I've partnered with local law enforcement leaders around the state, some of whom are with me today. We've worked hard to drive down crime to record lows and that includes working with ICE to track down and apprehend criminals and I'm being very specific when I say this, criminals.

Always have, always will. Once they're convicted and do their time, we work with ICE to ensure they're deported. And I'll repeat that New York State will never become a sanctuary for criminals. But at the same time, we are not talking about criminals. We will not sit idly by when ICE commits atrocities on our streets.

We will not allow local cops to be diverted as ICE agents to conduct civil immigration enforcement. To keep crime down, as we have been doing, we need local police focused on thwarting local crimes. Local police, local crimes. Not conducting civil immigration enforcement, not chasing Stephen Miller's inane deportation quotas.

That is why this year I championed a new law banning agreements between local law enforcement and ICE. Today, that law becomes enforceable. That means tonight, starting today, ICE can no longer use locally funded police to carry out the Trump administration's aggressive immigration agenda. Local cops cannot be ordered to aid and abet an out-of-control agency with an $85 billion budget. Local cops can no longer be deputized to participate in disorderly raids that too often descend into chaos and violence.

As I said at the top, local police will assist ICE only if a real crime has been committed. But on civil immigration matters, ICE is on their own. Let me be clear, any police department or sheriff's office that disobeys this law, that maintains any agreement with ICE, will face legal action. To those suing us, to those trying to block the implementation of this law, tried before and failed, our law has been already upheld by courts. But if you're trying it again, I say, "Bring it on."

Courts have already spoken, but I'm confident we'll win again. In the meantime, we expect all agencies in the confines of the great state of New York to comply, because if you want to enforce the law, the first thing you also have to do is follow the law.

I've heard some argue that ending these pacts with ICE somehow jeopardizes public safety. People making claims that are detached from reality or just desperate for attention, or perhaps both. New York has 62 counties. Before last year, only one had an agreement with ICE. Meanwhile, crime was going down rapidly. Fifty-three counties have never made a pact with ICE, even now. Never went there.

And interesting, I took note of the fact that of those 53, seven are among the 25 safest counties in America, according to US News and World Report. Process that for a moment. You know why? Because their leaders actually understand how public safety works. They understand that diverting police and sheriff's deputies to harass hardworking people is not a recipe for safe communities. Those that are wasting resources, questioning small business owners about their immigration status, such engagements, not a real sound policing strategy. It's also not who we are.

Here in New York, we believe that public safety must be pursued lawfully, transparently, and with humanity. Time and time again, we've seen across the nation, the federal immigration agents have abandoned those very principles. They've created a culture where restraint disappears, violence is routine and cruelty becomes the objective.

We saw it on the streets of Minneapolis with Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed in cold blood and where a five-year-old boy was detained with his blue bunny hat on, his Spiderman bag still on his back. We saw it in our own state, Mr. Shah Alam, a blind man who couldn't speak English, was left to freeze to death by border agents in Buffalo - and we're still seeing it.

Just this past week, I met Linda Wolff, a New Yorker, lifelong New Yorker, who was sprayed by an ICE agent with mace. Her eyes were left burning for days. Perhaps some long-term impacts. It was devastating, frightening and all she was doing was holding a phone across the street.

Is that what we've become? A place you can't even videotape when you see an encounter? You don't have any more rights? These egregious abuses of power are exactly why I signed a law giving people the right to sue ICE agents. Here's the bottom line.

ICE's dangerous and aggressive tactics to pursue civil immigration, again, I'm very clear here, for civil immigration enforcement, this only continues to evoke fear on our streets. And our local cops will not be part of it because we hold our police to a higher standard.

They hold themselves to a higher standard, and because they have real work to do, because we need local cops hunting down criminals, not kindergartners. Breaking up drug rings, not breaking up families. Arresting gun runners, not grandmas.

With this law, we can ensure that cops, police, sheriffs can stay laser focused on their job at hand. That's how you keep people safe. That's the job they were hired to do, the job New Yorkers and their counties pay them to do, the job they signed up to do, the job they want to do, going after actual real bad guys, responding to real emergencies, being there for their neighbors and keeping their communities safe.

With that context, I'm proud to introduce our next speaker. He served his city for decades, fighting crime the right way and getting real results. Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox. Thank you.