Republicans turned a foiled plot against the state Capitol into a fresh attack on New York’s new immigration law this week, arguing that a woman’s arrest last week shows local and federal police should keep formal ties in place. The law bars local police from having formal partnerships with federal immigration agents, and municipalities will need to have ended any existing agreements starting Tuesday.
The political fight sharpened because the arrest was tied to an alleged plan to bomb the state Capitol, a case Republicans said proved the value of working across agencies. Bruce Blakeman, who has boasted about Nassau County’s formal partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under a 287(g) agreement, said, “When local and federal law enforcement work together, terrorists are caught before they can hurt innocent Americans,” in a statement to City & State.
Blakeman went further, calling the arrest “a powerful reminder that cooperation saves lives” and “a wake-up call to Kathy Hochul,” while arguing that walls between local and federal law enforcement “don’t make New Yorkers safer; it puts families in danger.” Rob Ortt struck the same theme, saying the announcement of an “ISIS-inspired terrorist plot targeting our state Capitol building” reinforced why law enforcement at all levels must communicate and work together for the safety and well-being of New Yorkers.
That line of attack runs straight into the law itself. Donald Trump’s administration has challenged the measure’s legality, but the rollout is still moving forward on its deadline, which means municipalities that already have formal arrangements will have to decide whether to end them now or risk running afoul of the statute. Most police agencies have indicated they will comply, even as Republicans argue the case for cooperation was made by the arrest itself.
Mike Murphy, though, said the opposite: that the successful effort to prevent the attack shows the new law does not stop local and federal law enforcement from working together. For New Yorkers, the immediate test is no longer theoretical. By Tuesday, the paper partnerships that have defined the state’s immigration fight will either be gone or be pushed into open conflict with a law that is already being challenged in court.
