New York Sheriffs Escalate Legal Challenge Against State Law Banning ICE Cooperation Agreements

More than a dozen New York sheriffs, elected representatives, and immigration policy advocates gathered Tuesday to announce their support for a pending legal challenge to a newly passed state law that bars locally negotiated cooperation agreements — arrangements Congress has authorised — between municipal, state, and federal authorities on civil immigration enforcement. The group is offering free legal representation to the sheriffs, its attorney Mateo Forero-Norena confirmed, with the legal argument centering on the position that independently elected sheriffs had made local public safety decisions within the scope of their electoral authority, and that state officials had since moved to override those choices; the lawsuit, brought the month prior, does not have the backing of the state Sheriffs' Association, an umbrella body covering all 58 of New York's sheriffs, most of whom had no formal agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case represents the first phase of what is expected to be a drawn-out legal battle over whether the state holds the power to restrict cooperation between local police forces and federal immigration enforcement agencies. Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Coffey, named among the plaintiffs, told reporters he joined the lawsuit because he views the state law as driven by political motivations rather than sound policy, and that the legal action provides a way to push back against what he describes as a politically motivated agenda, adding that serving as a political instrument at the expense of Jefferson County residents would be unacceptable to him; the court filing, submitted Tuesday, came in response to a motion filed by the state attorney general's office on September 9, asking a federal judge to dismiss the case. Those who hold this view contend that assigning local and county police to carry out federal immigration duties diverts officers from their primary role of keeping communities safe. Gov. The 51-page ruling by D'Agostino also rejected the Justice Department's request for a temporary injunction against the provision barring 287(g) cooperation arrangements between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 12 New York law enforcement agencies. The sheriffs, for their part, contend that their status as constitutionally elected officers gives them separate legal standing to challenge the law barring cooperation agreements with federal immigration agencies — arrangements that, based on accounts from various sources, have not resulted in deputies conducting enforcement operations alongside those agencies or holding individuals on non-criminal grounds alone. Supporters of New York's law have offered little public comment on a provision that would compel police departments to end their cooperative arrangements with the Marshals Service — partnerships that many agencies have operated under for years. Counties whose jail operations rely on payments for housing federal immigration detainees on a short-term basis could face a reduction in that funding if the proposed legislation is approved.

New York Sheriffs Escalate Legal Challenge Against State Law Banning ICE Cooperation Agreements

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New York Sheriffs Escalate Legal Challenge Against State Law Banning ICE Cooperation Agreements

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