Sheriffs Launch Legal Challenge to Hochul’s Anti-ICE Law

Fifteen New York sheriffs are taking Gov. Kathy Hochul to federal court over a new state law that bars local law enforcement from entering into certain agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The law, dubbed the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, took effect this week after Hochul signed it in May. It prohibits local agencies from maintaining or entering into 287(g) agreements — arrangements authorized under federal law that allow state and local officers to assist with certain aspects of civil immigration enforcement.

Now, the sheriffs are fighting back.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Albany, argues that New York has overstepped its authority by restricting independently elected sheriffs from entering into agreements authorized by the federal government. The group is seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional and is asking the court to block its enforcement.

The case includes sheriffs from counties across the state, including Broome, Orange, Saratoga, Rensselaer and St. Lawrence.

The timing is no accident.

Attorney General Letitia James had previously warned local agencies with existing ICE agreements that they needed to unwind them by August 25. Her office has also issued subpoenas to agencies that have not confirmed they are complying with the new law.

Hochul and James insist the law is about keeping local police focused on local crime. The sheriffs see it differently.

Their lawsuit sets up a direct constitutional fight over who gets the final say: Albany, Washington, or the locally elected sheriffs charged with enforcing the law in their own counties.

And with New York’s 2026 political season already heating up, the battle over ICE cooperation just became another front in the state’s growing war over immigration enforcement.