Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Buffalo, New York, took a shot at Gov. Kathy Hochul’s disastrous immigration policies while announcing the arrest of a wanted illegal migrant.
Buffalo Field Office Director Thomas Brophy said that they will continue to protect residents “regardless of what the governor of New York says.”
“The men and women of ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operations] will continue to protect our communities from dangerous offenders, regardless of what the governor of New York state says,” he said in a release on Friday.
“We will not be deterred by politicians putting votes over protecting the citizens of this nation,” Brophy said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a press conference addressing NYC congestion pricing. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Brophy’s response came after ICE Buffalo announced the arrest of a Brazilian national who had a slew of local charges as well as charges in his home country of Brazil.
The agency said that the unidentified migrant had pending charges for strangulation and endangering the welfare of a child. He was also under investigation in Brazil for several crimes, including homicide.
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“This is the second case in as many days of ERO Buffalo officers arresting a foreign national attempting to outrun his criminal past by illegally entering the United States,” Brophy said.
Migrants line up outside a migrant re-ticketing center in New York City in 2023. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
He said that this case is a reminder of the dangers of the state’s sanctuary status for migrants.
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“These cases highlight the dangers of ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions and state policies that obstruct law enforcement from cooperating with ERO,” Brophy said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said that New York, which has seen over 220,000 migrants arrive in the city since spring 2022, has been “devastated” by the surge of migrants.
The New York Times reported that Manuel Castro, New York’s commissioner of migrant affairs, has vowed not to follow “the instructions of the federal government in cases of mass deportations.”
Migrants board a state-sponsored bus in Eagle Pass, Texas, destined for New York City on March 11. (Christopher Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Castro’s statement reflects a trend by state and local officials saying they would reject President-elect Trump’s immigration policies. Trump campaigned, in part, on enforcing stringent immigration laws and deporting migrants.
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In Illinois, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker promised to uphold sanctuary status, boldly declaring, “If you come for my people, you come through me.”
In Los Angeles, Democratic Mayor Karen Bass was instrumental in passing a local ordinance limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
“Especially in the face of growing threats to the immigrant communities here in Los Angeles, I stand with the people of this city,” Bass said. “This moment demands urgency. Immigrant protections make our communities stronger and our city better.”
In Denver, Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston pledged to resist Trump’s proposed immigration policies, predicting a “Tiananmen Square moment” if federal immigration officials attempted to do their job.
President Trump, left, and acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan talk during a law enforcement discussion on sanctuary cities in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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“More than us having DPD [Denver Police Department] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston told the Denverite. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants.”
Trump has vowed to initiate deportation efforts on his first day back in office, recently saying he would be open to declaring a national emergency and using the military to make it happen.
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Trump’s commitment to closing the border was cemented by his pick for “border czar,” Tom Homan, who served as the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the first Trump administration.
“If you don’t want to work with us, then get the hell out all the way. We’re going to do it,’ Homan recently said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE Buffalo and Hochul’s office for comment.