A mailer highlighted by Christine Sculti, republican candidate for Westchester County Executive
New Rochelle Hispanic Festival Cancelled for Fears of ICE; Low Turnout Westchester Hispanic Festival
By Dan Murphy
The race for Westchester County Executive unofficially kicked off on July 8 when Christine Sculti, the republican candidate for County Executive, accused democrat County Executive Ken Jekins of making Westchester, “a magnet for violent, criminal illegal aliens.”
Sculti held a press conference outside the county jail and explained one question that this reporter and many Westchester residents had about the Westchester Immigrant Protection Act, passed in 2018. If republicans say that Westchester is a Sanctuary County and democrats say that Westchester is not, who is right?
Or can both be telling the truth?
“Make no mistake, Mr. Jenkins, the Sanctuary county law has made us a magnet for violent, criminal illegal aliens who know how to exploit a system where our laws are not being enforced. This is an invitation for these criminals to commit more crimes in Westchester, as they know they will be protected from prosecution. This is insane and it must stop. It started in 2018 when Ken Jenkins, who was the architect of the so-called Immigrant Protection Act, aka the infamous Sanctuary County Law, and he built it and he promoted it, and now he owns it. And he’s still not being honest about it,” said Sculti.
“Ken refuses to tell the truth about what the law actually does. He actually now denies that it makes Westchester a sanctuary county, even though that’s exactly what it does. The law blocks the correctional and law enforcement officers and officials from sharing information with Ice. It prohibits honoring Ice detainers leaving violent repeat offenders in the county when immigration officials seek to remove them.
“In short, it puts up a dangerous, unwarranted wall between law enforcement and ICE. And Ken Jenkins built that wall. This isn’t speculation. Ken Jenkins said that Ice is not welcome here, and even boasted that he is proud of Westchester’s sanctuary status. Let that sink in. And elected officials sending out an oversized, glossy campaign mailer telling federal agents to stay out even when they’re trying to arrest known, violent, criminal, illegal aliens,” said Sculti, who presented a mailing for Jenkins for County Executive in 2017, pictured above.
Sculti highlighted the case of Fernando Jiminez, who was arrested in Yonkers in 2018 but killed a 15 year old in 2024. “I’m not just calling out a dangerous policy. I’m actually offering a solution because the sanctuary County law was passed without going through mandatory public hearing and referendum. It can be repealed by executive order. And I have that executive order right here in my hand. Ken can actually go to my website at Christine for County executive.com and print and sign the executive order right now. All it takes is a signature. If Ken Jenkins won’t make Westchester safer, then on day one, I will.”
News 12’s coverage of the press conference included a comment from County Spokeswoman Catherine Cioffi who said Westchester “fully complies with the law.” She said the county’s Immigration Protection Act doesn’t create a sanctuary for anyone and accused Sculti of fearmongering.
This has always been the response from county officials, that Westchester is not a Sanctuary County and that Westchester fully complies with the law. But to Sculti’s point, what the Immigrant Protection Act does do is ban local law enforcement from working with, or sharing information with ICE.
The only time Westchester law enforcement does work with ICE is when ICE has a Judicial warrant to remove an illegal resident. When Sculti says that “federal detainers are ignored,” she is correct. Only when a Judicial warrant is signed by a judge does local law enforcement comply with ICE.
Many Westchester democrats have argued that requiring ICE to get a Judicial warrant is not prohibitive to ICE’s work in removing criminal, illegal residents of Westchester. And the republican response has always been that everybody has to cooperate with judicial warrants.
Karin Ponzer, from Neighbors Link, said on News 12, “The term sanctuary is highly politicized and that’s why I stay away from it. It’s very important that county officials understand what their roles [are], and that is to enforce these laws, rather than getting pulled into federal, civil immigration enforcement, which is funded by the federal government and the federal government is fully empowered to that.”
When asked about illegal Latino residents in Westchester who are afraid to live their lives, Sculti added, “If you’re a law abiding citizen, you know, and you are cavorting with known violent, criminal, illegal aliens, maybe you have something to be concerned about.”
She added that the IPA was not properly passed in 2018. “So he (Jenkins) went and passed a law without following a mandatory public hearing referendum. That should be a headline for you guys. The reality is, is that the only reason these three departments are cooperating is because in the county charter, the county executive has the authority to direct these, uh, heads of departments, officials, and obviously the rank and file of those departments. It never went to the public for a referendum vote.”
“I have a general message to the Hispanic community. You’re welcome in Westchester. You make our community a better place. And we’re interested in your public safety as well.”
