Gov. Kathy Hochul reiterated her support for Haitian immigrants who lost Temporary Protected Status and highlighted new state efforts to limit cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement during a recent visit to Brooklyn.
Hochul visited businesses and residents in Brooklyn's Little Haiti neighborhood July 30 with lieutenant governor candidate Adrienne Adams and New York City Councilmember Rita Joseph, according to an Aug. 7 campaign release citing an interview with Caribbean Life.
The governor criticized the Trump administration's termination of TPS for nearly 350,000 Haitians and called the U.S. Supreme Court's decision allowing the termination to proceed a tragedy. She said members of the Haitian community are frightened and uncertain about what to do next.
Hochul also pointed to the state's newly created Office of Immigrant Trust, which is tasked with investigating potential unlawful cooperation between state or local employees and federal immigration agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James have sent letters to 12 local law enforcement agencies with agreements under the federal 287(g) program, telling them state law requires those agreements to be ended by Aug. 25, according to the release.
The governor said local law enforcement resources should remain focused on local crime rather than federal civil immigration enforcement. The release did not identify the 12 agencies that received the letters.
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