Local leaders and lawmen defy Democrat-run states’ crackdown on cooperating with ICE

Politicians in Democratic-led states are rushing to end cooperation with ICE, but a rebellion is brewing among conservative local officials who say they will find ways to work around the bans.

In New York, Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said he would ignore the restrictions Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed to the State Assembly.

“She’s endangering my residents. I’m not going to stand for it. I really couldn’t care less what she or the legislature says,” Mr. McLaughlin told The Washington Times.

In Maryland, both houses of the legislature have passed bills to shut down cooperative agreements between sheriffs and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said he would consider filing a lawsuit if Gov. Wes Moore signs the legislation into law.

He said sheriffs are constitutional officers with an independent duty to keep their constituents safe, and the proposed legislation would undermine that duty.

“Listen, every single day we work with other federal agencies: the U.S. Marshals, the FBI, the Secret Service. We have memorandums of agreement with a lot of these agencies. What’s any different than cooperating with ICE?” he said.

At issue are 287(g) agreements that require state and local authorities to go beyond basic levels of cooperation and take proactive steps to assist ICE.

The program has several versions.

The warrant service model allows local law enforcement to serve ICE’s administrative warrants and detain a deportation target. The jail enforcement model deputizes officers to screen detainees and begin the deportation process.

The most aggressive version is the task force model, which allows officers to check immigration status while performing their regular duties, such as traffic stops.

Partnership agreements in 287(g) programs have increased from 135 at the end of the Biden administration to more than 1,380 as of last week.

Growing angst over ICE has made the agreements the premier target of Democratic politicians looking to capitalize on the anger.

Fourteen jurisdictions in New York have active 287(g) agreements. In proposing to end those agreements late last month, Ms. Hochul said ICE has enough money that it doesn’t need the help from local police, which she said should focus on state matters.

Her office said her bill would allow police to cooperate with federal authorities “to apprehend or detain dangerous criminals.” The office said resistance to the state would not be legal.

“Counties do not get to pick and choose which state laws they follow, and those that do not comply will be held accountable,” the office said in a statement to The Washington Times.

Rensselaer County participates in the 287(g) jail enforcement program. That means officers can identify potential deportation targets among those they arrest.

“They are already in our jail. So, to us, it is a commonsense public safety measure,” said Mr. McLaughlin, the Republican county executive.

He said he would welcome the chance to fight a state lawsuit. He noted that he defied Albany over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 policies.

“We will ignore it, just like I ignored Cuomo’s executive order on nursing homes and COVID-positive patients. And look at the outcome we had. It was outstanding compared to the rest of the state,” he said.

He added: “If I told Andrew Cuomo to stick it, what do you think my response to Kathy Hochul is going to be?”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that the administration would legally support county officials who challenge governors and legislatures in Democratic-led states.

“Absolutely. And if there is a county in this country, whether it’s red or blue, that seeks to cooperate with the federal government to remove violent illegal criminal aliens from their communities, this administration is here to help,” Ms. Leavitt said.

“You’ve heard calls from, again, the president himself on asking Democrats and Republicans across the country to call on the Trump administration to work with them, not against them, in the matter of public safety and securing our homeland.”

In Colorado, Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams said he has found ways to work with ICE despite restrictive state laws.

He said his office produces a daily public report showing new detainees and their charges. ICE can peruse that report and spot people of interest.

“If ICE calls and says, ‘Hey, we have an interest to speak with a particular individual,’ we’re going to honor their right to speak with that individual, just like we would any other federal agency,” Sheriff Reams said.

Patrick Royal, a spokesman for the National Sheriffs’ Association, said sheriffs generally cooperate with federal agencies, but the nature of that cooperation will vary.

For some, that will mean turning over people from their jails but not signing up for the 287(g) task force model, which they feel puts them too deeply into federal enforcement issues.

“I think everybody really will cooperate. It’s just what that word ‘cooperation’ means,” Mr. Royal said.

Even in jurisdictions that don’t cooperate, individual officers have been known to alert ICE — or, in some cases, a connected go-between — of a deportation target’s release time. Local authorities may be blocked from officially turning over a migrant to ICE, but officers can be on hand to make the collar nonetheless.