{"id":502572,"date":"2026-01-09T00:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/502572\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T00:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:54:11","slug":"hochul-admits-she-harassed-an-ice-officer-in-nyc-teases-anti-ice-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/502572\/","title":{"rendered":"Hochul admits she harassed an ICE officer in NYC, teases anti-ICE proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBANY \u2013 Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday teased a new anti-ICE proposal she\u2019ll push in Albany to make it easier for New Yorkers to sue federal immigration agents \u2013 in the wake of the\u00a0deadly Minnesota shooting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Democrat, who\u2019s up for re-election this fall, also bizarrely boasted that she confronted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last year\u00a0at\u00a026 Federal Plaza<\/a>\u00a0in Lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you think you are more than anybody else? Come on, you\u2019re just trying to terrorize people,\u201d Hochul, during an interview on\u00a0MS NOW\u2019s \u201cMorning Joe,\u201d recalled telling the federal agent.<\/p>\n

Hochul says she once harassed a federal immigration agent for \u201ctrying to terrorize\u201d New Yorkers. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you think you are more than anybody else? Come on, you\u2019re just trying to terrorize people,\u201d the governor said she told the federal officer during\u00a0the exchange. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n

Hochul also indicated she would be including a proposal in her 2026 State of the State agenda<\/a>, which will be unveiled next week, that\u2019ll give New Yorkers \u201ca way to get recourse\u201d if they are negatively impacted by ICE agents\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeartened to hear that [Hochul] will be moving to enact a \u2018reverse 1983\u2019 statute in New York,\u201d Upper West Side state Assemblyman Micah Lasher, the governor\u2019s former policy director, posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lasher and then-State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal\u00a0introduced legislation last year\u00a0<\/a>to give New Yorkers the ability to sue a federal official, such as an ICE agent, in state court over alleged civil rights violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hochul, speaking later Thursday in an interview with PIX 11, said potential plaintiffs covered under her proposal would include supposed bodega owners whose shops have been raided by ICE and journalists injured while covering the protests at 26 Federal Plaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not something that\u2019s supposed to happen in the normal course of doing their business,\u201d she told PIX.<\/p>\n

Federal agents gathering outside 26 Federal Plaza on Oct. 21, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Masked federal agents wait in the hallway outside Immigration Court in Manhattan on Oct. 31, 2025. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s more aggressive anti-ICE stance marks a pivot as the governor, who, since President Trump\u2019s re-election, has repeatedly tried to suggest the Empire State will work with the feds on his immigration crackdown, at least as it pertains to migrants with criminal records.<\/p>\n

She claimed early last year to have a \u201cwhole list\u201d of crimes that would spur the state to hand over migrants to ICE, following criticism that\u00a0New York\u2019s sanctuary state policies\u00a0were giving cover to accused criminals.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on the Minneapolis ICE agent shooting:<\/p>\n

\u201cWashington needs to know where we\u2019re going to be helpful, what we\u2019re going to do, and I\u2019ll be very clear on this so everyone has no doubt in their mind what the situation will look like in the state of New York,\u201d Hochul said just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

During a grilling alongside other sanctuary state governors on Capitol Hill in June, Hochul also touted that hundreds of migrants locked up in state prisons had been turned over to ICE following their sentences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Renee Nicole Good (not pictured) was shot by federal agents after trying to flee capture by ICE in the South Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026. X\/@maxnesterak<\/p>\n

Protesters surround federal agents and a Homeland Security Investigations vehicle. William Farrington<\/p>\n

Pressed repeatedly by Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) during that hearing, Hochul refused to take a position on the \u201cNew York for All Act,\u201d the most high profile of a number of pro-migrant bills currently floating in Albany.<\/p>\n

The bill would enact strict sanctuary policies into state law, prohibiting government employees from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would also ban federal authorities from state and municipal properties without a warrant.<\/p>\n

But now with her re-election bid in full swing, Hochul is facing even more pressure from her party\u2019s left flank to act.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester), during remarks opening this year\u2019s legislative session in Albany Wednesday, said she supported the \u201cgoals\u201d of the New York for All Act.<\/p>\n

One of the Senate\u2019s \u201ccentral focuses\u201d for 2026 will be \u201cstanding up for communities that are being targeted and marginalized, which includes protecting our immigrant brothers and sisters by advancing the goals of New York for All,\u201d Stewart-Cousins said.<\/p>\n

The legislation was not brought up in either chamber of the legislature last year.<\/p>\n

Hochul had rushed to the ICE facility in June after then-City Comptroller Brad Lander was busted on charges of assault and obstruction while protesting migrant arrests there. She called the progressive pol\u2019s arrest at the time \u201cbulls\u2013t\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY \u2013 Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday teased a new anti-ICE proposal she\u2019ll push in Albany to make…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":502573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5410,5371,5248,224761,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-502572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ice","10":"tag-kathy-hochul","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-minneapolis-ice-shooting-2026","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115862415908062210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}