Gov. Kathy Hochul was in the hot seat Thursday when she joined other blue-state governors for a Capitol Hill hearing on immigration enforcement.
Republicans who control the U.S. House Oversight Committee called Hochul, along with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
U.S. Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky who chairs the committee, said the governors’ policies protect undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. The committee previously invited several Democratic mayors, including Eric Adams, for a hearing.
“Your laws put lives in danger,” GOP U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, the only New Yorker on the committee, told Hochul.
She has re-upped an executive order, first enacted in 2017, which sets out rules for the State Police and other agencies in dealing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The order generally prohibits most state employees from asking about a person’s immigration status unless it’s necessary to determine whether someone is eligible for a state program or benefit or if the state employee is legally required to ask.
“The America I believe in is a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants,” Hochul testified. “Abandoning either threatens the very foundation on which this great country was built. You know, for 400 years, New York has prospered because of the hard work of these people, these newcomers, people like my grandfather who fled great poverty in Ireland.”
As the federal government has stepped up deportation efforts in New York and around the country, Hochul has tried to walk a fine line. She said in January that the state would cooperate with the federal government when four broad categories are met.
The categories include when individuals are convicted of state crimes, when individuals are suspected of immigration crimes, when coordination with federal officials is relevant to investigating a crime committed in New York and “when an individual is suspected of a crime with potential multinational dimensions, such as participation in international drug cartels and gangs.”
Republicans questioned Hochul about undocumented immigrants who were arrested for high-profile crimes, including a Turkish man accused of raping a teenager in Albany and a Guatemalan man arrested for lighting a woman on fire in the subway system.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from the North Country who is considering a gubernatorial run, mentioned each alleged perpetrator by name and asked Hochul if she was familiar with them.
Hochul replied she was not.
“These are high-profile cases — New Yorkers know about them and you don't,” Stefanik said.
“These are horrific crimes, and they're heartbreaking,” Hochul replied.
“They're horrific crimes that are committed on your watch. You signed this executive order on your first day in office, you signed it again and again this January,” Stefanik continued. “We deserve a governor who stands up for law-abiding New Yorkers.”
“Rather than going after the viral moment, I suggest you look at the facts,” Hochul replied. “We cooperate with ICE.”
There are no uniform rules in New York about how local police agencies interact with ICE and other federal agencies. New York City, Albany and Rochester have sanctuary policies that restrict cooperation, but other localities — including Nassau County on Long Island — work to support ICE.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, asked Hochul about a Mexican man in the country illegally who pleaded guilty to an assault charge in Tompkins County. ICE sent a detainer request to officials in the county, but the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office didn’t hold the suspect.
Hochul said that was a local decision. “The state of New York, we would have turned him over,” she said.
Hochul hasn’t backed the New York For All Act, which would restrict local interactions with ICE. Top state lawmakers said this week there was little they could do to stymy federal immigration enforcement. They haven’t committed to bringing the bill up for a vote.
Republicans in the state are backing Laken’s Law, which is named for a Georgia student who was murdered by a man who entered the country illegally. That bill would require local police agencies to call ICE if they arrest undocumented immigrants.
Comer and other GOP members on the committee focused many of their questions and attacks on Pritzker, a rumored Democratic presidential contender in 2028, and Walz, who was Kamala Harris’s running mate in 2024.
Several Democrats on the committee said Thursday’s hearing was little more than political theater. They used their time to criticize the Trump administration’s decision to deploy the U.S. Marines to Los Angeles.
“There is no national emergency,” said U.S. Rep. Dave Min, a California Democrat. “What is happening right now is not just unprecedented, it is illegal. And it is very alarming to those of us who care about democracy and the rule of law.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
