Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights New Laws to Protect New Yorkers and Stand Against ICE Overreach

Governor Kathy Hochul today met with immigration advocates, faith leaders, educators and New Yorkers impacted by aggressive federal immigration enforcement to highlight new protections included in her FY27 Enacted Budget. These new laws will keep local law enforcement focused on keeping our communities safe instead of doing ICE's job, protect sensitive locations from civil immigration enforcement, and hold federal agents accountable for violating the Constitution.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you all for joining us. I just finished a very powerful conversation in my office with people who've experienced, firsthand, the unprecedented overreach and abuse of power by federal immigration officers in our state. And I heard from a father who spent eight months in a detention center. I knew his story.

His son, Norman, had told me about it in this very room when I gathered individuals a number of months ago. I was overjoyed to know of the reunion. Norman, thank you for putting a personal spotlight on what families are going through. And your dad was just simply going to work, trying to support his two sons. And I remember you telling me that all you wanted to do was tell your dad you made the honor roll - and he's doing very well in school as he's heading into seventh grade. Little conversation about the fact that he might be a Spurs fan, but we're going to address that. But I think there's an opportunity for a conversion here.

But his father had to endure living hell in substandard conditions in a horrible place. These are tough stories to hear. These were New Yorkers subjected to this unprecedented abuse, as I mentioned. I also heard from members of the clergy who told me tales of people afraid to go worship. A mother whose son was deported on his way to church. A young man from Nassau County - detained, ultimately deported before he could walk across the stage and be presented his high school diploma that he had worked hard for. And a reverend told me what we're seeing is a "historical inversion of civil rights." Not exactly what I'm proud to hear as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of this country, which has certainly had a lot of ups and downs in its great history.

Here we are, charged with protecting it, and ensuring that the rights that we've always taken for granted, had taken for granted, are returned. So the men and women and children I spoke with today all bore witness to what may just appear in the news or the headlines to people. Literally masked agents terrorizing hardworking immigrant communities.

I also reflected on the fact that this issue was so top of mind back in January when the murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, blared across not just the national, but the international headlines as we were stunned by what happened to two U.S. citizens who dared protest the abuse of power in the City of Minneapolis.A few months later, in my hometown of Buffalo, Mr. Shah Alam, another immigrant with a family, hardworking, visually impaired, left by federal agents at a closed coffee shop on the west side of Buffalo and literally wandered for days and froze to death. ICE had the responsibility, the federal government had the responsibility to keep him in their care and make sure he was returned safely, and they clearly failed in that responsibility.

But the challenge for us is that the public attention span can be phenomenally short. A lot of questioning, a lot of outrage, a lot of attention on this back in January, which is exactly when we started formulating the policies that I knew we needed in the State of New York. A state like New York that has been viewed as a beacon of freedom, a place where immigrants could come to and start a better life and achieve incredible outcomes.

That's been our story of our success, something we cherish. And we always will welcome law-abiding individuals who play by the rules, who work hard, get an education, and their families contribute to our economy, to our communities, our vibrancy.

But sometimes, as the public attention span has moved on, I want people to know that my attention span has not. These are the people that are in our state, a state that, as I said, has a reputation of standing up for its people now more than ever. And we think about having to stand up at a time when not that long ago, we were told by our current President on the campaign trail that he was only going to go after the "baddest of the bad," the "worst of the worst," the criminals.

Everybody agreed with that. Everyone agreed with that. We want our community safe. I'm devoted to public safety. It's my number one job as the Governor: keeping people safe. But that's not how it was translated in the implementation of a cruel, heartless policy that has wreaked havoc and destroyed lives across our country.

And that's why I said, "We don't do things like that here in New York. That's not what we're doing." We don't need law enforcement wearing masks. We don't need any of our law enforcement wearing masks. We don't need our local police wearing masks. We don't expect our State Police to wear a mask, and you will not see that. So we are now saying: No longer in the State of New York will you be allowed to wear masks as a technique of intimidation.

Also, federal agents have been using local police officers where there's agreements, they call them 287(g) agreements. This is basically saying that the local law enforcement, who are paid for, their salaries are paid for by the local taxpayers, with support from the state - a lot of support from the state - should not be deputized to do the job of ICE, an $85 billion agency that has plenty of resources to do their immigration efforts.

Don't be using local cops who need to be focused on local crimes. It does not make sense. It does not keep our communities safer. That's what we're banning as well. We're also saying no to immigration officials being able to go into places we consider sensitive locations - common sense - schools, places of worship, community centers, hospitals, courthouses, without a judicial warrant. You have a warrant from a judge for someone's arrest, yes, you can go there, but you've had to go through certain processes first.

So no longer in the State of New York will they be able to go after people in schools, in churches, in synagogues, other places or allow schools to be a place where they collect data. Literally surveillance out in front of a school to track who's going in and out. A scare tactic that really keeps a lot of young people away from school, not the outcome we're looking for.

And also, if an individual's constitutional rights are violated here in the State of New York, you or your family should have the right of recourse in the system of justice in our courts. So we're making it easier for New Yorkers to sue these officials who trample on their rights so flagrantly as they've done. And I'll be clear, and I'll say it now and I'll say it 100 times: New York is not a sanctuary for criminals, and we will cooperate when crimes are being committed, going after dangerous criminals - not the act of crossing the border, but dangerous criminals.

We'll help them there, but we are not going to be partners with them in carrying out unlawful actions that literally just deprive our neighbors of their rights. I hope that the laws that I'll be signing momentarily will be a blueprint for other states to follow. But hear me: This is a statement of who we are as New Yorkers. When it gets tough, there's no one tougher than New Yorkers to stand up and fight back, and that's exactly what we're doing here today.

So I want to thank everyone who's been part of this effort. I want to thank Bishop Hyde for sharing his story, and Natalie, and you're going to - Aristizabal. Natalie from - are you going to pronounce that for me? Help me out here.

[Natalie Aristizabal: Aristizabal].

Much better than I did. Thank you. Thank you. From - Co-Executive Director of Make the Road. Murad Awawdeh. Awawdeh. Help me with Murad's last name. I always just call him Murad. He has always been a great ally. I just spoke to him on the phone yesterday. He's not here, President of the Immigration Coalition, because he has to be in a courtroom. And all the others who spoke out here today - Frankie Miranda and Dr. Shawn Wightman; Dr. Kirsten Foy; Bishop Raymond Rivera; and Norman and Eric, who shared their presence with us here today as well.

So on behalf of the people of the State of New York, this is our time to act. It's time to show the nation and Washington who we are. Let's sign the bill.