NYS Capital — As lawmakers and groups rallied for the passage of NY for All on Monday, NYS Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters why she referenced the legislation during her opening remarks for the 2026 Legislative Session.
NY for All prohibits police departments and municipalities from working with ICE, and enforcing federal immigration laws. It would, in effect, make the State’s Sanctuary policies, written into laws. The recent push comes as many in the Country debate the presence of ICE in communities following the deadly shooting in Minnesota of Renee Good.
“Because of this moment,” Stewart-Cousins said. “We have had conversations about it, and I think everybody is alarmed on some level about what is happening in our country and streets. We have to pay attention to, again, how we can protect New Yorkers writ large. And so, yes, I think people who are committed to doing that have to have conversation about how best to do it.”
On the other side of the aisle, GOP lawmakers have proposed the opposite. “Laken’s Law”, which was signed at the federal level in January 2025, would require law enforcement to notify ICE when someone who is arrested is not a U.S. citizen. NYS Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R) discussed the issue with reporters on Monday as well.
“A debate like this, for me, does not give me hope that we can bridge the divide in the State or this country,” Ortt told reporters. “Because I can’t understand how somebody could say that they people who have been arrested, they’re in the country illegally. They are not US citizens, and they’ve broken another law, a second law, I would say, even by their definition, a first one of police contact, sometimes very serious offenses, and they don’t feel the definition to federal immigration authorities, I don’t know what to tell you. I think it is a matter of national security. I think it is a matter of protecting our very fabric of our life. It’s the law. If you start doing this, it’s a very quick slope to just picking other laws that you don’t want to follow.”
Governor Kathy Hochul has said that the State will cooperate with ICE when arresting those with a criminal record, though has shown frustration and spoken out about events like what happened in Minnesota.