Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Holds Roundtable to Respond to Federal ICE Threats

Earlier today, Governor Hochul held a roundtable discussion with community leaders and elected officials in New York City to respond to federal immigration enforcement threats ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

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

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

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page has photos of the event.

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

Well it's great to be back in Jackson Heights, food is amazing. I've been here many times, and I've been in the district of both of our Assemblymembers here, Catalina Cruz who's a great great ally of mine, we've spent a lot of time together, and I thank her for her leadership in the Legislature. And State Senator Steven Raga, who understands the challenges of our immigrant communities, and I thank all of you, as well as everyone who's part of NICE, what a nice-sounding name. New Immigrant Coalition, Empowerment and Coalition, and I've heard about your work many times. We've talked about it, Nilbia, but also here's a chance to come at a time when I believe there's just more heightened stress on communities than ever before. We thought it was bad - it feels like it's getting worse.

The tension is palpable, and I just came over from the US Tennis Center. We announced our World Cup watch party. I hope you all have a chance to get over there, it starts this afternoon. And we know that people are just feeling vulnerable. The hotel workers in this area and restaurant workers and the everyday people going about their lives are just feeling particularly vulnerable in light of the most recent threats from Tom Homan. And again, I go back to what the President said when he was running for office, "We're only going after the baddest of the bad, the worst of the worst," and yet they're talking about a surge in an urban area like New York City that is just going to create chaos, and especially around the World Cup, whether it's our watch parties, whether it's at the events. So I wanted to come here because we know people are anxious. We want people to understand the laws that we have in place now, and again, I thank our members of the Legislature for their efforts here.

But you know what? It's not how we do things in New York. Maybe Washington, different breed, they think that intimidation and creating fear is the way to govern, and we just reject that here in the State of New York. That's not who we are - never has been, never will be. So we don't want - ICE cannot be terrorizing innocent New Yorkers. You're here, you're part of the family. You're here, you're part of the family.

And I also want to let people know that we're going to continue our effort on keeping local cops focused on local crimes. If you look at the crime rates in our communities, they're plummeting. New York is - City and New York State, are getting much safer. Murders are down, shootings are down. We are managing our own with having our law enforcement focused on law enforcement instead of civil immigration enforcement. They should not be doing ICE's job. ICE has $85 billion, an obscene amount of money, but do not be thinking that in the state of New York you can use our local police to do your job in civil immigration enforcement.

Again, we don't want ICE agents wearing masks in our state. We have a nation-leading bill that was just passed as part of our Budget package that - no, and I've spoken to ICE members. Why are you wearing the masks? Why are - the FBI doesn't, DEA doesn't, ATF doesn't, NYPD doesn't, State Police don't, local police don't. Why do you need the masks to do your jobs? It is just actually a cruel and frightening tactic for people to see that.

We're also protecting sensitive locations, houses of worship - so many people stopped going to worship on a weekend because they're afraid, I've heard this from many clergy who tell me this - going to schools, people are afraid to go to schools. They're afraid to drop their kids off at childcare. They're afraid to go to hospitals, get healthcare, worried about even elections. Will they be at polling places? So in our law, we have banned ICE agents from going to sensitive locations unless they have a warrant for someone's arrest, that they've identified someone who has literally committed a crime, not just the act of coming to this country.

So these are all commonsense measures. We expect our laws to be complied with. We don't want our jails being used for any purpose other than local law enforcement purposes. It's not their job to be ICE detention centers either. That's not what the taxpayers are paying for when they pay for local law enforcement. They expect that money to be used to protect them in their communities. So we're not going to use our - let our local resources be weaponized against the people living in our communities who are just working hard and contributing and trying to start a whole new life for themselves, and we appreciate the struggles that they go through. As I think about what my grandparents had to deal with, they didn't have ICE, but they also came to a very inhospitable country. The Irish were unwelcome, and you've heard me tell the story of my grandfather who was a migrant farm worker in South Dakota because nobody would hire him elsewhere and then became domestic servants, grandma and grandpa.

So I know that story from my own history, but I see it unfolding even more now. But the world has changed so dramatically under this administration and the threats by Tom Homan, which we're hearing, but I want to send a message right back: Not here, not New York, not ever. So with that, I want to open up to our Executive Director here, Nilbia, for all the great work you do. It's an extraordinary group, but if you could help us get to know the real stories of the people, you've brought people to me, and I want to thank you for that, and Frankie and others who've been in my office, bringing me people who've been separated from loved ones, waiting for a father to come back or a son to come back or a mother just so distraught. The stories are painful. They're just absolutely painful and inhumane what is going on in this country at this time, and so, especially here in New York. So I want you to help lead the conversation for us