On May 27, 2026, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law one of the most sweeping state measures aimed at obstructing federal immigration enforcement, marking the latest chapter in a yearslong effort to restrict federal immigration enforcement and President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.The bill, known as S9005C, erects unprecedented obstacles to immigration enforcement at every level and represents the modern Left’s playbook for shielding, harboring, and prioritizing criminal illegal aliens over American citizens.We cannot and should not accept this reality. Recently, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit challenging the bill’s provisions that terminate cooperative law enforcement agreements and criminalize federal law enforcement officers for wearing masks. Additional legal challenges should be considered for other provisions of the bill.
America, pay attention. This is the blueprint for the return to mass illegal immigration, amnesty, and open borders.First, S9005C prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from entering into new cooperative agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as 287(g) agreements, and terminates all existing agreements.Second, the law prevents New York jails and prisons from renting detention space to federal immigration agencies and authorizes “sensitive locations” to deny immigration agents access to non-public areas.Third, it creates a new state-based cause of action allowing individuals deemed “within the jurisdiction of the U.S.,” which most Americans would call “illegal aliens,” to sue officials for the deprivation of constitutional rights.Fourth, it bars state and municipal employees from disclosing information about illegal aliens to immigration authorities, including names, Social Security numbers, physical descriptions, addresses, telephone numbers, financial or medical information, and places of employment or education.Fifth, it prohibits state and municipal employees from questioning an illegal alien based on an immigration warrant or detainer.Sixth, it prohibits state and municipal employees from inquiring into or collecting information about an individual’s citizenship, immigration status, nationality, or country of origin, except when necessary to administer public benefits or to conduct voter registration.Finally, and perhaps most concerning, given the unprecedented levels of death threats against ICE agents, the law also criminalizes the wearing of masks by federal, state, and local law enforcement officers while on duty in public.The goal of this new law is clear: to eliminate every conceivable avenue for cooperation with federal immigration officials. Hochul’s policy prioritizes shielding illegal aliens in New York from removal, regardless of criminal status. Other open-borders politicians will see this legislation as a model to follow nationwide, thereby attempting to turn America into a Sanctuary Nation.Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers are seen outside of a federal immigration office after a man was fatally shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, on July 14, 2026 in Scarborough, Maine. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
