Multiple counties in the Southern Tier were notified last week that they must end their 287(g) agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a letter from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
The Office of Immigrant Trust (OIT), a new statewide bureau created within the attorney general’s office, sent letters to sheriff’s departments in Broome, Steuben, Otsego and Cattaraugus counties.
Niagara County in Western New York and the Allegany Village Police Department were also notified by OIT.
A new state law, the “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” prohibits these agreements. The statute was included in the 2027 state budget.
Steuben County entered into two 287(g) agreements with ICE in 2025.
Last year, the county legislature passed a resolution allowing the sheriff’s department to enter into two 287(g) Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) with ICE: the Warrant Service Officer program and Task Force Model.
The task force agreement allows local law enforcement limited immigration authority during routine police duties out in the community.
The Warrant Service Officer program allows ICE to train local law enforcement officers to serve administrative immigration warrants in their agency’s jail.
Steuben County residents voiced their concerns to the legislature with the county’s coordination with ICE.
The OIT notifications were sent to law enforcement across the state to inform them that “state law requires they unwind [their 287(g)] agreements by Aug. 25,” according to a press release from the OAG.
The statute prohibits local law enforcement from “conducting civil immigration enforcement” and the termination of ICE agreements. Any remaining ICE agreements after Aug. 25 will be “deemed null and void in its entirety.”
Local law enforcement is also banned from “using correctional facilities, juvenile detention facilities, and facilities for youth to house federal civil immigration detainees.”
In a press release from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office in May, provisions in the laws regarding immigration detention facilities state “Local governments would also be barred from paying or otherwise contributing to the costs related to constructing, owning or operating an immigration detention facility. They would also be prohibited from changing zoning to allow for construction or use of buildings as immigration detention centers without public input.”
The legislation also includes protections for immigrant students, public employees and preventing voter intimidation at polling sites.
It bans law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, from wearing face coverings while interacting with the public unless necessary as part of public health or tactical gear.
“Willfully violating the statute would be an infraction, and subsequent willful violations would be a misdemeanor,” Hochul’s press release states.
WSKG reached out to the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office, Steuben County Manager and the chair of the Steuben County Legislature and did not hear back.
Local law enforcement agencies are asked to share their 287(g) agreement status and action plan for their compliance with the law by Aug. 14.
