New York sheriffs are done playing nice with Kathy Hochul.
Now she wants to rip out the one tool keeping criminal illegal immigrants off their streets.
And the sheriffs just told her to make their day.
What Hochul Is Actually Trying to Kill
Fourteen active 287(g) agreements across nine New York counties are in her crosshairs.
A 287(g) agreement means that when local police arrest an illegal immigrant, ICE gets notified and picks the person up directly from the jail – no hunting them down in the community, no releasing them back onto the street and hoping federal agents find them later.
Nassau County signed one of these agreements with ICE in February 2025.
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Since then, approximately 3,200 illegal immigrants arrested by local police have been transferred directly to ICE custody – 3,200 people who were not released back into Nassau County neighborhoods to reoffend.
The Car Fire Case That Explains Everything
Here's what 287(g) looks like in real life.
Earlier this month, Elder Lopez Avalos – an illegal immigrant – was arrested for setting 10 cars on fire in Freeport, New York.
His charges weren't bail-eligible under New York's bail reform laws.
Under a normal sanctuary jurisdiction, he walks out the door and disappears.
But Nassau County has a 287(g) agreement, so federal agents showed up after his court hearing and detained him.
That's the program Kathy Hochul wants to ban.
She introduced the measure in January, threatening that any jurisdiction that refuses to comply "will be taken to court for enforcement."
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A Democrat governor threatening to sue her own sheriffs for cooperating with federal immigration agents.
That's who Kathy Hochul is.
Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood – Blakeman's running mate on the Republican gubernatorial ticket – signed his own 287(g) agreement with ICE last July and has heard from sheriffs across the entire state.
"I have sheriffs from all over the state contacting me, and they are all very upset about this," Hood told Fox News Digital. "Almost all of them disagree. There's very few sheriffs who are on board."
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman put it even more directly.
"Kathy Hochul can make my day," he said, "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. They're mad as hell."
Hochul's Sanctuary State Push Goes Beyond 287(g)
The 287(g) ban is just one piece of what Hochul is trying to bury in New York's 2027 fiscal budget.
She also wants limits on ICE access to schools, hospitals, and churches – and restrictions on informal cooperation with federal immigration agents at any level.
Hood knows exactly what that produces in practice.
He pointed to the large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, where state-level non-cooperation left ICE agents without local police backup.
"Those local police should have been behind those agents, even if they're not doing the actual immigration stuff," Hood said. "They should have been there and had their backs down there, and that's a massive failure by that state."
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Kathy Hochul is trying to replicate that failure across every county in New York.
When an ICE agent goes into a dangerous situation without local police behind him because Albany ordered them to stand down, that's on her.
When a criminal illegal immigrant reoffends because 287(g) got banned and nobody picked him up at the jail, that's on her.
The sheriffs know it.
They're building a lawsuit.
They're backing Blakeman for governor.
And they're telling Albany in plain English: we enforce federal law here, and you are not going to stop us.
Sources:
- Elaine Mallon, "New York sheriffs 'mad as hell' as Hochul pushes to ban key law enforcement partnership," Fox News, May 27, 2026.
- "DHS Demands Letitia James Take Action Over New York's Refusal to Honor ICE Detainers," Fox News, 2026.
- "ICE Buffalo Official Takes Shot at NY Gov Hochul After Arrest of Wanted Illegal Immigrant," Fox News, 2026.