Jessica and Tom Gorman, with Congressman Mike Lawler, left, and State Senate candidate Sergio Esposito, right
Lawler and Blakeman Stand with Gorman Family; Call for End to Sanctuary Policy in NY
By Dan Murphy
The parent of Sheridan Gorman, who was murdered in Chicago on March 19, stood outside the Yorktown Police Department last week with Congressman Mike Lawler and Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman to call an end to what they called the “sanctuary policies” of Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State.
Their call comes after a recently passed state law requires local law enforcement to do the exact opposite: Don’t cooperate with ICE.
“Sheridan Gorman should be enjoying her summer with family and friends,” said Congressman Mike Lawler. “Instead, her parents are experiencing every parent’s worst nightmare because an illegal immigrant who had been detained at the border, released, arrested again, and released again, was allowed to remain in this country.
“As Jessica Gorman said, “A 10-second phone call to ICE could have saved my daughter’s life.”
“No family should ever have to endure this kind of loss. Governor Hochul, listen to them. End New York’s sanctuary policies. Put public safety first. For once in your career, listen to the victims of crime and stand with them, rather than with the criminals,” said Lawler.
Blakeman, the republican county executive of Nassau County running for Governor, said, “The Gorman family of Westchester lost their daughter, Sheridan, a freshman at Loyola University, after she was murdered by a migrant who had multiple prior encounters with law enforcement. We stood together to demand an end to Kathy Hochul’s sanctuary laws that protect criminal illegals. Then, just minutes after Sheridan’s parents finished speaking, Kathy Hochul put law enforcement agencies on notice to comply with her sanctuary law. The contrast could not have been more striking. It was shameless, callous, and deeply disrespectful.”
White House Border Czar Tom Homan is living up to his word of increasing ICE operations in New York State after Governor Kathy Hochul and the State legislature passed a series of laws prohibiting local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE in removing illegal or undocumented residents.
“ICE is operating across the state today, but there’s going to be a surge, and there needs to be a surge. But I am not going to show our hand because there are groups who will try to impede and interfere,” said Homan.
There has been no cooperation between ICE and any Westchester law enforcement agency since the Immigrant Protection Act was passed in Westchester in 2018.
The new state law and the enforcement of it by the Governor and Attorney General, include:
The new Office of Immigrant Trust (OIT), a first-of-its-kind statewide bureau within the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), sent letters to the 12 local law enforcement agencies in New York that currently have 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), informing them that state law requires they unwind the agreements by August 25, 2026. Created as part of a legislative package championed and signed by Governor Hochul on May 27, 2026, OIT is dedicated to enforcing New York laws that protect immigrant communities, strengthen public trust, and limit the use of state and local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement.
“New York is strongest when every community is able to trust the institutions meant to serve them,” said Attorney General James. “The Office of Immigrant Trust will help ensure that schools, local governments, and public agencies remain places of safety and support, rather than agents of the federal administration’s campaign of fear and intimidation. My office is proud to stand up for immigrant New Yorkers and prepared to hold anyone who violates our laws accountable.”
“Nobody is above the law. In New York, we will not tolerate the diversion of local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement at the expense of public safety. That is why we passed a commonsense set of laws standing up against federal overreach and ensuring that local law enforcement is not deputized by the highest funded law enforcement agency in the country,” said Governor Hochul. “My top priority is keeping New Yorkers safe. Ensuring our law enforcement remains focused on local crimes is essential to protecting our communities and maintaining public safety.”
New York law now prohibits local governments and law enforcement agencies from participating in any formal or informal 287(g) agreement and using correctional facilities, juvenile detention facilities, and facilities for youth to house federal civil immigration detainees. Under the new state law, existing 287(g) agreements must be terminated by August 25, 2026.
The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act prohibits local governments and law enforcement agencies from entering into 287(g) agreements or similar arrangements that use local resources to detain people for federal immigration violations.
This provision ensures that New York’s local law enforcement resources are directed toward local public safety priorities, rather than the federal government’s mass deportation agenda. Through OIT, Attorney General James will ensure that municipalities comply with New York law and that state and local institutions remain focused on protecting and serving New Yorkers.
The OIT was established as part of a package of state laws designed to limit state and local involvement in federal civil immigration enforcement, safeguard local resources and public safety, and protect immigrant communities across New York. These laws:
Restrict the use of state and local resources for civil immigration enforcement;
Limit sharing certain sensitive information with federal immigration authorities;
Implement new protections for students and families in schools
Some NY law enforcement agencies have indicated that they will defy the Governor and the AG and continue to partner with ICE. Most are in upstate NY and on Long Island, but in Westchester, Mt. Pleasant Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi said, “Our law enforcement agencies will continue to work with federal authorities when necessary to identify, apprehend and remove convicted individuals who are in the country illegally and who post a threat to our community. We will not allow those known to be dangerous to find safe harbor in our town. Public safety must come first.
Some of the best coverage of ICE activity in Westchester and the Hudson Valley can be found on the Facebook page of Ignacio Acevedo, https://www.facebook.com/iggyacevedo, who provides videos and photos of ICE activity from, in recent months, Port Chester, Ossining, Croton on Hudson, White Plains, Peekskill, New Rochelle, Mt. Kisco, Tarrytown and Yonkers.
The Facebook group, Yonkers Sanctuary Movement/Movimiento Santuario Yonkers, https://www.facebook.com/YoSanctuaryMovement, recently held a “Justice and Peace Vigil , to honor the parents and all the people who have been murdered by ICE,” held at St. John’s Church in Getty Square.
Assemblymember Dana Levenberg responded to Lawler and Blakeman’s appearance with the Gorman family. “It appears that Mike Lawler is once again fear mongering about immigrants to deflect from his own disastrous record in office. Instead of passing comprehensive immigration reform that keeps families together and enables the US to continue to benefit from the economic contributions of immigrants, the Trump administration – enabled by Mike Lawler – is pursuing the worst possible version of immigration enforcement. Every day, good, hard-working people and their children are swept into ICE’s violent dragnet with no due process and left to languish in deplorable conditions – if they aren’t killed outright on the street.
“The number one issue I heard about from constituents this session was the need to protect New York from ICE. My constituents have told me loudly and clearly that they do not want ICE in our communities.
“If ICE were serious about rounding up the “worst of the worst,” nothing in our new laws would prevent them from securing a judicial warrant and the legal right to state and local cooperation. But the Trump-Vance regime does not actually care about stopping crime; they are releasing masked thugs on our streets so we will gradually come to accept secret police as a fact of life. This should never be allowed in America,” said Levenberg.