A new state law going into effect Tuesday prohibits local police in New York from formally cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or detaining immigrants for the agency in local jails — but don’t tell that to Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin.
“We don't feel like we're doing anything wrong here,” McLaughlin said during an interview at the county jail. “If they think I'm going to blindly just say, ‘Well, the law is the law,’ they're talking to the wrong guy.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul and other Democratic officials say the law will help protect immigrants from aggressive enforcement while they pursue asylum claims. But Republicans say the new law will make it easier for criminals to slip through the cracks. The debate is set to take center stage this week in the governor’s race.
By the state’s count, 13 jurisdictions had formal 287(g) cooperation agreements with ICE when Hochul signed the new immigration law in May. As of Friday, 11 said they would wind them down by the Tuesday deadline.
The other outlier is Nassau County, led by Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is challenging Hochul in November. Blakeman has said he is reviewing his options. His spokesperson on Friday didn’t say whether the county would comply.
It appears likely that the issue will wind up in court. Sheriffs in at least two counties say they're planning to file a pre-emptive lawsuit. And Hochul says she'll sue to enforce the law.
“They will face legal action,” Hochul said of the noncompliant counties. “Because in New York, I want our police focused on one thing, one thing: keeping people safe, not doing ICE's job.”
McLaughlin and Undersheriff Michael Dinardo said their 287(g) agreement is limited in scope. When a person is booked into the jail, a sheriff’s deputy who has received special training from ICE is able to run a detainee’s name through that agency’s database to instantaneously see if that person is the subject of an order for deportation.
To Dinardo, it’s no different than the standard check of the state database that is run for every person entering incarceration. He said federal information in that state database can be delayed.
“We don't want someone coming here, paying a dollar to get bail, and then we didn't get information back in the right amount of time, and we release them to the street,” Dinardo said.
Blakeman has a more expansive agreement. He said sending his officers on patrol with ICE has meant they aren’t disturbing schools or other sensitive sites — and they’re taking guns and drugs off the streets.
“Kathy Hochul, where do you want those guns?” Blakeman thundered at a recent rally with President Donald Trump. “Where do you want those drugs? What community do you want to destroy? Where do you want those illegal migrants with criminal records to live? You want them back in New York? We say no!”
ICE data shows that most immigrants who are detained haven't been convicted of crimes. Immigrant advocates in New York say people with ongoing asylum cases are being arrested during traffic stops and at scheduled check-ins.
According to Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Borgault, nine people have been turned over to ICE from the county jail since McLaughlin started the partnership in 2018. That includes one man who was wanted for rape in Ireland. McLaughlin and Dinardo said ICE agents generally haven’t picked up immigrants eligible for detention who didn’t have major outstanding charges.
On Long Island, Newsday reported that between February 2025 and March 2026, 147 immigrants detained at the Nassau County jail had prior convictions for violent crimes. That's less than 5% of the immigrants who were arrested.
State Sen. Julia Salazar, a Brooklyn Democrat who pushed for the new law, said she rejects the narrative that immigrants are criminals.
“People who are undocumented are working in our communities, their children are attending our public schools, and they're contributing to our communities,” Salazar said. “It hurts all of us when those communities are under attack.”
McLaughlin says he’s planning to join a lawsuit challenging the new state law. A federal judge already rejected the Department of Justice’s request to stop the ban on cooperation agreements from taking effect. The judge did side with the Trump administration in throwing out a state ban on ICE agents wearing masks.
But McLaughlin says he’s comfortable clashing with higher authorities. He defied a state order during Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration that would have brought COVID-positive patients into the county-run nursing home.
The county executive said he sees this clash in the same vein.
“You could let somebody out, and they go murder one of my citizens. How do I do that as a county executive?” He said. “It's illogical. It makes no sense.”
