A group of 15 sheriffs from across New York is suing to overturn a statewide ban on cooperation agreements with federal immigration agencies.
The lawsuit was announced Monday evening, but wasn't available for review until late Tuesday.
Each sheriff is listed as a plaintiff in the suit. Nassau County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman announced Wednesday that Nassau County would also be joining the suit.
The plaintiffs say New York State's ban on 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is unconstitutional because it interferes with their local decision-making and forces them to cancel a federal contract.
According to court papers, four of the sheriffs named in the lawsuit had or have active 287(g) agreements, and two were in the process of implementing an agreement. Eight have separate agreements allowing ICE to house detainees in their county jails for a daily rate, and two have agreements to house undocumented immigrants convicted of certain offenses. Four have no formal agreements with immigration authorities.
"This isn't just about 287(g). This is about tools being taken away from law enforcement to safely protect the people they are closest to," Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, said Tuesday. "I was elected by the people of Rensselaer County to serve as their sheriff and to make the difficult decisions on how we keep this county safe, and that is why I will continue to advocate for the independence of the office of sheriff."
Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James said they would fight the lawsuit in a statement Tuesday evening.
"The vast majority of New York’s law enforcement agencies were already successfully protecting their communities without any collaboration with ICE. The claim that these sheriffs cannot do the same says more about them than it does about the law," Hochul and James said. “This lawsuit is nothing but a frivolous waste of taxpayer dollars."
Earlier this summer, a federal judge allowed New York's ban to stand while proceedings continue in a separate lawsuit brought by the federal government.
