Hochul Says “No New Taxes” — But Northern New York Has Heard That Before
“I’m not asking.”
That blunt statement from New York Governor Kathy Hochul in regard to seeking help from President Donald Trump on immigration enforcement is now igniting a political firestorm — especially after former acting ICE Director Tom Homan publicly pushed back on what he called fear-driven rhetoric coming out of Albany.
Appearing on The Ingraham Angle with Laura Ingraham, Homan challenged Hochul directly after she warned about ICE activity around churches, schools, and hospitals.
“Governor Hochul, give me one example,” Homan said during the interview. “One example of ICE going into a church, hospital, or school.”
Homan argued that the governor’s language is creating panic inside immigrant communities by painting ICE as some kind of roaming force storming sensitive locations across New York. According to Homan, that narrative simply does not match reality and only fuels distrust and confusion.
But the bigger issue, according to Homan, is New York’s growing refusal to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement altogether.
Hochul’s position that the state will not actively support ICE through local law enforcement partnerships, county jails, sheriffs, or other cooperation mechanisms may play well politically with progressive activists downstate, but critics say it is making immigration enforcement operations larger, more chaotic, and more visible.
Homan’s argument is straightforward: if local authorities cooperated with ICE in a controlled and orderly way, federal agents would not need to conduct the kinds of large-scale operations that critics later point to as evidence of “aggressive” enforcement.
Instead, he says sanctuary-style policies force ICE to deploy more manpower into communities because they lose the ability to safely coordinate transfers and targeted arrests through existing law enforcement systems.
For many in Northern New York, Homan’s comments resonate differently than they might in Manhattan political circles. Homan, a native of the North Country, has long been viewed locally as someone who speaks plainly and unapologetically about border security and federal law enforcement.
And while Albany continues framing immigration primarily through politics and optics, Homan is framing it through operational reality.
The clash also highlights the widening divide between the Trump administration’s immigration priorities and Democratic governors attempting to resist federal enforcement efforts. Hochul’s “I am not asking” line may energize parts of her political base, but opponents argue that refusing cooperation while simultaneously complaining about enforcement tactics is a contradiction that ultimately makes the situation worse.
In Homan’s view, New York leadership cannot have it both ways: refusing assistance, refusing cooperation, then criticizing the methods required afterward.
And as immigration continues dominating national headlines, the battle between Albany and Washington appears nowhere near over.
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