NY Budget Deal Tightens ICE Cooperation Limits

0:00It's May 1st, U.S. News Today starts now, AI-powered and nationwide. I'm Cory, with the story. New York leaders are on the verge of sealing a budget deal that slaps the state's toughest limits yet on how local cops work with immigration, and customs enforcement. It would stop counties from renting out jail space for civil immigration holds. Kill off those formal 287G partnerships where local. Officers act like ICE agents, and even block on-duty federal agents from hiding their faces with masks. This build on Governor Kathy Hokel's local cops, local crimes act, from January 30th, which started by targeting those deputization deals. Lawmakers expanded it to cover more ground, like widening protected zones where ICE can't enter without a warrant, now including schools, libraries, and government buildings with an option for private spots to join in. Folks are fired up on both sides, local calls at a needed break on overzealous federal raids that snag everyday workers, not just serious criminals.

1:03But sheriff like Brune County's Fred Eckshar are pushing back hard, saying he risks public safety by cutting off key partnerships. Negotiations hit snags over exceptions for sharing info on crimes, like probable cause or criminal probes, but advocates and Democrats shot those. Down, so they're out of the final package. Assembly speaker Carl Heasty says about 95% is locked in, even a month passed the April for his deadline. With the governor's race heating up, this hits close to home. Nassau County's Republican exec has housed over 1000 ICE detainees since October. Deals that would get axed, Hokel insists serious crime fights with feds like the FBI stay intact, keeping the balance as the deal wraps.