Video & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Details New Protections Against Federal Immigration Overreach

In a new video released today, Governor Kathy Hochul detailed her expanded immigration proposals to protect New Yorkers from federal overreach and prioritize public safety.

VIDEO: The remarks are available to watch on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here.

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

Three months ago, the world watched in horror as reckless federal agents terrorized people on the streets of Minneapolis. Renee Good, a mother of three, murdered in her car. Alex Pretti, a VA nurse shot in the back. Children tear gassed while sitting in a vehicle. Communities shaken, families traumatized and a weary nation asking what happened to America. Weeks later, in our own state, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind man who could speak barely any English, was abandoned by Border Patrol agents at a closed coffee shop on a cold Buffalo night, without his cane, without proper shoes, left to freeze to death.

Every one of those individuals deserves justice. And I ask: where are the investigations? Where are the prosecutions? Where are the answers to the questions every American asked when these horrors dominated our news for weeks? Well, it seems the news cycle has moved on. But we have not. And facts matter when it comes to countering the false narrative regarding those many individuals who live here and contribute to their communities. Of the 14,000 New Yorkers taken by ICE in just over a year, only 700 had any criminal history at all - reaffirming that the promise by the Trump Administration to only go after the worst of the worst, the baddest of the bad, continues to be broken day after day.

So it's up to us - up to us to enact laws that will restore sanity, keep our residents safe and return us to the country we once knew. I'm proud that in New York we're making real, concrete progress to accomplish our goals.

Working with the Legislative Leaders, we're advancing a law I championed back in January. We call it Local Cops, Local Crimes. It's a simple common sense proposition that local police, local cops, should be focused on the jobs they were hired to do: keeping our communities safe, not targeting law abiding families, not helping ICE terrorize our neighbors, not diverting taxpayer funded police to act as accomplices to an out of control agency with an $85 billion budget.

Under what I have proposed when it comes to civil immigration enforcement, ICE will no longer be able to infiltrate our cities and our towns using our police, our jails or our law enforcement technology. We'll prohibit teachers and government workers from helping separate children from their families and other detentions. Local law enforcement will only cooperate when a real crime is involved. We'll stop ICE from violating the sanctity of homes, schools, libraries, community centers and other sensitive locations without a warrant, and federal agents will no longer be allowed to hide behind masks when they violate people's rights. Let me be clear, none of these changes will prevent police from coordinating with federal authorities on criminal matters. In fact, these changes will clear the way so they can focus on keeping New Yorkers safe from actual criminals.

As I said, while the media attention on Minneapolis and ICE sometimes has waned, the pain and suffering has not. Earlier this month, an 85-year-old widow was dragged away by ICE in her nightgown. Now she sits in a detention center hundreds of miles away, her children unable to reach her. Every day we don't act, the fear grows and grows. The trauma deepens.

I've held a mother sobbing in my arms after her son was taken away by ICE walking outside a Home Depot. I walked through an empty factory in Cato, where days before workers were sorted by the color of their skin and taken away by ICE. A nursing mother was even separated from her baby. And I've hugged children who just want to know when their mom or dad is coming home. So you're damn right - this is personal to me. And we will not have our families afraid to leave their homes. We'll not have parents afraid to send their kids to school. We'll not have youth centers and libraries become places where children are terrorized. We'll not have local police weaponized against their own communities, and we will not have masked agents hiding their identities, going after our neighbors because of the color of their skin. Not here, not in New York.

We'll continue working toward a final deal with our Legislative Leaders, and then we'll share the final details. But rest assured, we'll never compromise on public safety, nor the values we hold dear in the great state of New York. Thank you."

Contact the Governor's Press Office