Ban 287(g) Agreements in New York

Governor Hochul proposed banning 287(g) agreements in January — finish the job and get it signed into law. New Mexico, Maine, and Maryland have already acted. New York needs to follow through before ICE embeds itself further into local police budgets across this state. What's happening here isn't voluntary cooperation anymore. ICE is paying full officer salaries, handing out $100,000 vehicles, and attaching per-arrest bonuses to immigration enforcement. FWD.us projects these payouts will hit $2 billion nationally in 2026 alone — more than COPS and JAG-Byrne grants combined. Once that money is built into a county's budget, it's nearly impossible to unwind. Local departments stop answering to their communities and start answering to ICE. The per-arrest bonus structure is especially dangerous. There's no corresponding incentive to avoid mistaken-identity arrests — and in Minneapolis earlier this year, Renee Good was killed in a violent ICE operation that targeted the wrong person. The ACLU argues Congress never authorized this payment structure when it created 287(g) in 1996. New York shouldn't wait for a federal court to sort that out. Pass the ban now.