The deadline for Southern Tier law enforcement agencies to terminate their 287(g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has come and gone as of Aug. 25.
The “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act” of 2026 was passed by the New York State Legislature earlier this year.
Steuben and Broome counties were two of the 12 law enforcement agencies across the state to enter into formal agreements with ICE. Both counties signed their agreements in 2025.
As of the deadline, both counties have complied with the state law.
Steuben County Sheriff James Allard sent a letter to the Buffalo ICE field office on Aug. 25 stating that the county is “officially terminating the 287(g) agreements with [the] U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement enacted in 2025.”
A similar letter was sent by Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar on Aug. 20th. Akshar’s letter includes his objection to the statute and that he looks “forward to taking legal action in the coming days to challenge and ultimately overturn this egregious act of government overreach.”
After Monday’s legislative meeting, chair of the Steuben County Legislature, Kelly Fitzpatrick said the county is not doing anything formally to end its 287(g) agreements.
“The state has passed a law that will make those agreements null and void as of tomorrow, and so we are letting it unwind through their action,” said Fitzpatrick. “We are not taking any additional action.“
Fitzpatrick said the county is “pro-law enforcement” and cooperating with federal agencies is the “right thing to do.”
“It's safer and less damaging, so to speak, to have our sheriff's deputies participate in those actions because we feel it prevents some of the chaos and the violence that happens and has happened in other states,“ said Fitzpatrick.
Earlier this year in Minneapolis, two citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed in separate interactions with immigration agents during ICE’s “Operation Metro Surge.”
The Steuben County Legislature passed a resolution in 2025 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 Warrant Service Officer program allows ICE to train local law enforcement officers to serve administrative immigration warrants in their agency’s jail.
The task force agreement allows local law enforcement limited immigration authority during routine police duties out in the community.
“I don't believe we've participated in any of those sorts of actions,” said Fitzpatrick regarding the task force agreement. “Our deputies have plenty of other work to do otherwise. So we are not going out and stopping and picking people up or doing any of that kind of work.”
Broome County opted into a Warrant Service Officer program agreement with ICE in March 2025.
New York's new law applies only to local law enforcement assisting with civil immigration enforcement that is typically done by ICE agents. It does not prevent detention or deportation of undocumented immigrants tried and convicted of crimes.
“Local police will assist ICE only if a real crime has been committed. But on civil immigration matters, ICE is on their own,” said Hochul during a press conference earlier this week.
“Let me be clear, any police department or sheriff's office that disobeys this law, that maintains any agreement with ICE, will face legal action. To those suing us, to those trying to block the implementation of this law, tried before and failed, our law has been already upheld by courts. But if you're trying it again, I say, “Bring it on.”
Steuben County received $130,000 from its agreements with ICE according to Fitzpatrick.
In addition to the requirement to terminate formal agreements with ICE, local law enforcement is prohibited from “conducting civil immigration enforcement,” and banned from “using correctional facilities, juvenile detention facilities, and facilities for youth to house federal civil immigration detainees.”
There are also provisions in the laws for immigration detention facilities, according to a May press release from the governor’s office. “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.”
Fitzpatrick said she is unaware of any immigration-specific detention facilities or outside corporations building warehouses for immigration detainee usage in the county.
The “Local Cops, Local Crimes” statute also includes protections for immigrant students, public employees and preventing voter intimidation at polling sites.
A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office said in an email to WSKG that subpoenas went out last week to all participating sheriff’s departments. The spokesperson said that in response to those subpoenas, “both Steuben and Broome counties confirmed that they intend to comply with the law.”
On Tuesday, 15 sheriffs, including Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar, joined a lawsuit against Governor Hochul, Attorney General James and the state of New York. They claim the “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act" of 2026 is unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction prohibiting the defendants, including the newly formed Office of Immigrant Trust (OIT), from enforcing the law.
“This lawsuit really is about the associated independence and the constitutional authority that is granted to the office of the sheriff,” Akshar stated during a press conference in Binghamton on Wednesday. “This lawsuit is about the aggressive and gross overreach by state government, specifically the defendants in this case, Governor Hochul and the attorney general.”
There are 55 elected sheriffs in the state and three appointed to the position. Sheriffs in New York City, Nassau County and Westchester County are appointed. The remainder are elected.
Akshar stated that Broome County "stands to lose about $2.2 million” because the statute cancels housing ICE detainees.
The lawsuit was filed by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization formed in 1979 to “upend” the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Southern Poverty Law Center states leaders of FAIR have ties to the Trump administration’s first term and “to white supremacist groups and eugenicists and have made many racist statements.”
Hochul and James issued a joint statement on Aug. 25 that this lawsuit is a “frivolous waste of taxpayer dollars. The courts have already declined to block this law once, and we are confident they will do so again. In the meantime, we expect all law enforcement agencies in New York to uphold state law.”
Rensselaer County is the sole holdout with compliance with the law from the 12 agencies with 287(g) agreements as of this publication.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced he will comply with the law on Wednesday. Blakeman is the Republican challenger for governor against Hochul in the general election.
