ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York legislators sounded the alarm over Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics. Democratic State Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Karines Reyes said they reintroduced the New York for All Act to keep ICE from using local resources without a judge’s order.
Worried about ICE agents of overstepping their legal authority in New York state, the legislators pushed for clearer rules of engagement to protect immigrant communities and public safety. They warned that despite some mixed messaging that has scared immigrants, local workers officials should not let ICE agents enter schools or shelters without a court order from a judge. That follows recent guidance from New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
Traumatized families in immigrant neighborhoods have seen attendance dropping in response to the aggressive policies from Pres. Donald Trump. As Reyes pointed out, a dip in student participation rates can cause a district to lose funding.
Reyes added said that the office of Mayor Eric Adams released confusing guidance about when ICE could visit sensitive places. And she characterized ICE interactions with local workers as intimidating, saying that the mayor’s message left many feeling pressured to follow ICE directions without question. She called out profiling among agents stationed on train platforms and street corners to detain New Yorkers that they thought looked like immigrants.
Both lawmakers stressed that unclear rules have sparked confusion and fear. Gounardes pointed out that clear rules help build trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.
“If you talk to police, they want immigrants to trust them. They want immigrants to know that they can go into a precinct and say, ‘I have to report a crime. I saw something that happened. I have information.’ But if immigrants are worried that by just showing up in a precinct, they’re going to be rounded up like everybody else on the unfounded suspicion that they’re here without documentation, they’re never going to come forward,” Gounardes said. “That puts everyone in harm’s way.”
In the legislature, Gounardes and Reyes sponsored the New York for All Act. S2235/A3506 would stop law enforcement, probation staff, state employees, municipal officers, and county correctional officials from using public state resources for immigration enforcement. It requires ICE to supply a warrant from a judge or court order to get help on immigration issues from local police, peace officers, or school resource officers.
It also makes officials supply a consent form—in multiple languages—to detainees who are going to be interviewed in custody about immigration. And they have to record and annually report every request for help from immigration authorities.
And it prevents:
- ICE from asking about or recording someone’s citizenship or immigration status
- Officers from entering immigration data into databases or using immigration officials as interpreters
- Probation departments from asking about or sharing personal immigration information
- Nonlocal officers accessing private areas without a warrant
- State officers from sharing custody details with ICE
- State officers from transferring custody without a valid court order
- State workers from using state time or property for immigration enforcement
- State workers from asking about or record a person’s citizenship or immigration status
Finally, the bill requires the attorney general to review annual immigration status reports, compile an annual public summary, and publish clear guidance and training.
But is it true that ICE agents are only rounding up immigrants with a criminal record? “That couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that even under sanctuary laws, [ICE] have the ability to detain and to deport people who commit crimes. That has always been the case,” Reyes said. “Now, what is happening is that they’re making a spectacle out of all of this. They are sowing fear into our communities, and they’re making a show as if they’re doing something different than they were doing before.”