ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals to rein in President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics are putting swing seat Democrats in a tight spot.
Republicans are eager to capitalize on state-level efforts to undermine deportations as a cudgel against vulnerable House Democrats — especially those representing the bellwether New York suburbs. Left-leaning Democrats — responding to eroding support for Trump’s immigration policies after the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis — are increasingly willing to take a confrontational approach with federal law enforcement.
The rapidly shifting events driving public opinion, Trump’s escalating deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Democrats’ desire to protect undocumented communities has created treacherous political crosscurrents for swing seat lawmakers. And the Empire State — home to large immigrant populations and several contested House districts that may determine control of the chamber — is a case in point.
“They’re going to have to be really careful how they talk about this,” Laura Curran, a Democrat and former Nassau County executive, said of her party’s swing seat candidates. “We don’t want to talk about defunding the police or all that stuff.”
Proposals by Hochul and the Democratic-dominated state Legislature to put guardrails around Trump’s immigration tactics have not been enthusiastically received by vulnerable House Democrats.
Reps. Tom Suozzi and Josh Riley would not comment on the governor’s policy pushback, which she outlined in her State of the State speech this week. And a third Democrat, Rep. Laura Gillen, provided a statement calling for federal immigration reform that avoided any mention of Hochul’s proposals.
Efforts in Albany to check ICE’s actions are quickly becoming an issue in the three Democrats’ races as Trump moves to deport more undocumented immigrants and potentially use the Insurrection Act to quell adversarial protests. Republicans plan to mount competitive campaigns against Suozzi, Riley and Gillen this year with the goal of making in-roads among voters in purplish areas of New York state. Attacks over the governor’s immigration measures are already starting: A spokesperson for the House Republicans’ campaign arm accused Hochul and her fellow Democrats of trying to “reopen the illegal immigration floodgates.”
“New Yorkers haven’t forgotten what Democrats’ reckless open borders did to their state, and they won’t stand for it again,” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Maureen O’Toole.
The stakes for New York Democrats to get the immigration policy right couldn’t be higher. Races in at least four seats in this deep blue state are expected to determine control of the House — and the course of Trump’s final two years in office.
Republicans in the past have pointed to state-level laws in Democratic-dominated Albany to blast Democrats running for federal office. GOP candidates hammered Democrats, regardless of what office they were running for, over a controversial law that restricted cash bail.
State-backed provisions that undermine federal law enforcement stand to serve as a replay of a fight that played out in several election cycles and led to electoral gains for Republicans.
Gillen’s office sidestepped questions about the Hochul-backed measures and instead called for action on the federal level.
“Our immigration system has been broken for decades and is in dire need of repair,” she said in a statement. “Comprehensive reform must be done at the federal level. Congress should pass my bipartisan Dignity Act to strengthen our border security, remove dangerous criminals, and provide a pathway for law-abiding immigrants to earn legal status.”
Curran, who led bellwether Nassau County for four years, believes Democrats in swing seats will have to remain cautious with calls to scale back ICE. But she acknowledged some voters want action following Good’s death and Trump’s threat of invoking the Insurrection Act amid ICE’s clashes with protesters. The fraught emotions have created a tricky balancing act for Democrats in tough races.
“The dramatic nature of all this ICE action is really starting to freak people out,” Curran said. “The popularity of Republicans is starting to go down if this escalates. This is going to become much more toxic, but I also understand why some of these Congressional Democrats are being vanilla. I understand these districts; they have to be.”
The lack of support for Hochul’s ICE-curbing plans among the trio of vulnerable New York Democrats underscores how Trump’s increasingly controversial deportation efforts continue to be a third rail for the party. Democrats have struggled to articulate an alternative plan and voters punished their candidates in 2024 as the president returned to the White House promising swift action.
But the expansive efforts to remove people from the country have changed how the party’s officials — especially at the state level — are approaching the issue.
Democrats in Albany this year want new boundaries around federal immigration officers — provisions that would apply to a state with a civically engaged immigrant population. Hochul wants to make it easier for New Yorkers to sue federal officials in state court and to require a judicial warrant before carrying out a civil deportation proceedings in locations like schools or houses of worship. Hochul will also implement restrictions on new state-funded public safety grants to require they not be used to support civil immigration enforcement by the federal government.
The moderate Democrat in interviews has hammered ICE’s recent actions around the country, accusing the agency of abusing its power.
“It hurts peoples’ confidence in all law enforcement,” she told Fox 5. “This undermines the NYPD, and our state police, who are just doing their jobs.”
State lawmakers have proposed bills to prohibit federal agents from wearing masks while carrying out their official duties. They are calling for new monitoring requirements for ICE. And there are discussions to guarantee that every person facing civil deportation proceedings has access to an attorney.
“There’s a massive shift — including my own shift,” said Democratic state Sen. Pat Fahy. “Public opinion has shifted dramatically.”
The Albany-area Democrat has worked with state lawmakers across the country in recent weeks to develop new legislation. Spurred by efforts in California — like requiring ICE agents be unmasked — Fahy and her fellow legislators have been on group chats trading ideas for new ways of bottling up federal enforcement efforts. She acknowledged, though, that some moderate Democrats are yet to come around amid uncertainty over how the rapidly changing events will shape the public’s view of the deportation crackdown.
“The marginal Democrats or the swing area Democrats are still nervous about it,” she said. “But now it’s more than an immigration issue. This is about who we are as Americans.”
Even among Democrats eager to put the brakes to ICE’s enforcement there are disagreements.
Hochul is typically cautious around controversial immigration issues — she is not embracing calls to expand sanctuary protections and said in a Fox 5 interview this week she does not want the agency abolished. But the governor received standing ovations from the audience when she laid out her immigration measures in her State of the State address — a speech given days after Good’s shooting in Minneapolis and an indication she is delicately threading a needle with her proposals.
“This doesn’t interfere with lawful enforcement or public safety,” Hochul said in the speech. “It simply affirms a core truth: Power does not justify abuse.”
There are signs voters across the country are becoming unnerved by immigration agents’ expansive tactics and deployments. A Quinnipiac University poll this week found 57 percent of voters disapproved of how ICE is enforcing immigration laws while 53 percent of those surveyed believe Good’s shooting was not justified.
Hochul has said she was “sickened” by Good’s death and called for “recourse” when a federal official acts inappropriately.
“Let’s start holding these people accountable,” she told MSNOW this month.
Her likely Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, has taken a starkly different posture.
Blakeman — who signed an executive order opposing sanctuary-related policies — told reporters this week he does not want to “put any shackles on ICE.” He said videos of Good appeared to show her turning her car toward an ICE agent and “trying to run down” the officer — a claim Hochul’s campaign rebuked. The Republican added that there should be more support for victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants.
“You want to talk about ICE? Let’s talk about the victims of crimes committed in New York state by the people who shouldn’t be here,” said Blakeman, who Republicans expect will have strong coattails in down-ballot Long Island races.
The differing views among Democrats over how to address Trump’s immigration actions highlights Hochul’s imperative to win over statewide voters, while swing seat incumbents must take a more careful approach, said independent political analyst J.C. Polanco.
“Hochul understands she’s never going to win a Blakeman voter,” he said. “Unfortunately for Gillen and Suozzi, they need Blakeman voters.”
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