New York’s high-profile new law restricting mask use by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out their duties went into effect Friday under the cloud of dueling lawsuits between the Trump administration trying to stop it, and the state of New York filing its own to defend the law’s constitutionality.
Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on social media Friday morning that the law was now in place and provided a link allowing New Yorkers to report violations through the Attorney General’s Office.
“As of 12:00 AM, New York’s law prohibiting most law enforcement officials from wearing masks while carrying out their duties is now in effect,” she wrote. “New Yorkers have a right to know who is exercising law enforcement authority in their communities.”
The Trump administration’s lawsuit argues that states do not have the authority to regulate the federal government’s operations and that the laws put the lives of law enforcement officers at risk. The lawsuit also names Hochul, state Attorney General Letitia James and Michael Russo, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Buffalo Regional Office.
The mask ban was part of a package of legislation that represented a compromise between Hochul and the state Legislature. The centerpiece of the legislation, which was passed as part of the state budget, banned formal cooperation agreements between ICE and state and local governments, or 287(g) agreements. It is also the subject of the Trump administration’s lawsuit.
“Governor Hochul cannot tell Federal officers how to do their job,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said.
In filing their own lawsuit, Hochul and James this week vowed to defend the provisions that the Trump administration says are unconstitutional overreach.
“Working with Attorney General James, we are going to court to defend these laws and affirm what we believe is clear. They are constitutional and they make New Yorkers safer,” Hochul said.
It comes as immigration enforcement takes center stage in the race for governor.
Counties with those 287(g) agreements, which Hochul insists waste state local resources on federal activities and would keep those resources from assisting in an immigration enforcement program that she and other Democrats insist is out of control, are in the midst of a 90-day grace period to wind them down. The ban fully takes effect Aug. 25.
Leading one of those counties is none other than Hochul’s Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who has long promised legal action if the state passed the ban and indicated that remains the case in an interview with Spectrum News 1.
“You are in for a fight,” Blakeman said, arguing that the agreement has helped the county weed out criminals in the country illegally. “I’m leaving it to my lawyers. We will fight it. We will do whatever we have to do to protect the people of this state.”
Blakeman, asked if the county has had any enforcement action taken, told Spectrum News 1 he has not spoken to state leaders.
“Kathy Hochul has not called me, nor has Letitia James. I don’t think they have plans to call me. The fact of the matter is they have made our communities less safe,” he said.
Hochul, too, is using the issue to capitalize on what she described as strong progressive momentum in Tuesday’s primary election while insisting that the state will continue to assist in the apprehension of dangerous criminals.
“ICE agents would only go after the worst of the worst, we’re seeing all of these promises broken and it’s up to this party as well as all of this energy to get out there and make sure that all voters know what is at stake in this election,” she said this week.
The Hochul campaign responded to Blakeman’s comments, accusing him of running the most “pro-ICE ticket in America.”
“Blakeman is showing New Yorkers exactly the kind of governor he’d be: Donald Trump’s puppet who hurts New York families instead of keeping them safe,” said Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki.