According to POLITICO, New York has brought the tension directly into its budget negotiations: on one side, the state government is pushing to include a package of measures restricting federal immigration enforcement in the final agreement; on the other, White House border official Tom Homan fired back on the spot—saying that if the bill passes, the federal government will send even more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel to New York. The issue has quickly become sharply defined: when local governments seek to erect barriers to deportation actions, but the federal government responds with an increased presence of enforcement agents, which will come first—the legal boundaries or the harder enforcement shadows on the streets of New York? Currently, Governor Kathy Hochul and Democratic-led state legislators are attempting to tighten the scope of cooperation between ICE and local police, and restrict civil deportation orders from being carried out at educational institutions, places of worship, and similar locations. Their reasoning is clear: they do not want Trump administration’s large-scale deportation operations to sweep unimpeded into New York. However, Homan made no apologies during his remarks at a border security conference on Tuesday, stating that jurisdictions like New York, which refuse to cooperate, would only see “more ICE personnel than ever before.” Yet this threat did not intimidate the state legislature—Democratic State Senator Mike Fischbach openly said such warnings only strengthened the resolve to include the bill. New York’s urgency in establishing rules also stems from the chaos following a recent deportation operation in Minneapolis, where civil unrest led to the deaths of two U.S. citizens. Clearly, New York officials are determined not to replicate that scenario within their own state. Fischbach further criticized the sight of armed, masked agents moving freely through the streets—an approach he said is unacceptable. Hochul had previously been told by Trump that as soon as she spoke up, New York would see a surge in federal immigration personnel. This week, she made it clear in Albany that she would not make such a request. State Senator Gounardes also spelled it out plainly: precisely because of Homan and the Department of Homeland Security’s actions across multiple states nationwide, New York must take steps to prevent ICE’s “abuse.” On the other hand, the Republican camp offered a completely opposite answer. Nassau County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Laura Blackman argued that cooperating with ICE, rather than opposing it, would actually make New York safer. In the end, what truly matters now is not who shouts louder—but whether this budget battle will push New York squarely onto the front lines of a direct confrontation between federal and local authorities.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1864498314872832/
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