A Former Democratic Governor of New York
Just Called Hochul’s Sanctuary Bill an Egregious Mistake.
On Sunday, May 24, 2026, former Gov. David Paterson— the first Black governor of New York, former chair of the state Democratic Party, and the man who finished Eliot Spitzer’s term in Albany after the prostitution scandal — went on John Catsimatidis’s Cats Roundtable program on 77 WABC Radio and called the sanctuary-state bill the legislature passed three days earlier “an egregious mistake.” Paterson is a Democrat. The bill was passed by Democrats. The governor who will sign it is a Democrat. The criticism is, in tone and content, indistinguishable from what Republican county executives have been saying about the same bill all week.
The bill in question — the NY for All Act, sponsored by State Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-NY) and co-authored by State Sen. Julia Salazar (D-NY) — bars New York police and state agencies from cooperating with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement on civil detainers and bans most participation in the federal 287(g) program. A companion measure hands new authority to AG Letitia James (D-NY) through a newly empowered “Office of Immigrant Trust.” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), who has been publicly feuding with Border Czar Tom Homan (appointed by President Trump (R)) for weeks, is expected to sign.
The political squeeze on Hochul is now bilateral. From her right flank: Republican gubernatorial candidates Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Nassau County Exec Bruce Blakeman (R-Nassau) (vowing a lawsuit), and Rensselaer County Exec Steve McLaughlin (R-Rensselaer) (vowing simple defiance). From her left flank: Sen. Salazar (D), who says the bill doesn’t go far enough. And now, from inside her own party’s elder ranks: David Paterson (D), whose framing is the most damaging of all because nobody can call him a partisan.
- 6,947releasedcriminal illegal aliens released from NY state and city custody between Jan 20, 2025 and Dec 1, 2025 despite ICE detainer requests · DHS Dec 2025 release
- 29homicidesmurder and manslaughter convictions or pending charges within the 6,947-released cohort · DHS
- 207sex offensessexual-predator offenses within the same released cohort · includes rape, sexual abuse of a minor, and registered sex offenders · DHS
- 4deadFlushing arson Mar 16, 2026 (including a 3-year-old) · suspect Roman Ceron Amatitla had been released by NYC Department of Corrections despite an active ICE detainer · charged with 8 counts of 2nd-degree murder + arson · DHS Apr 2026
- 15prior chargesrap sheet of the four-time-deported illegal alien charged with shoving an 83-year-old US veteran onto NYC subway tracks Mar 12, 2026 · DHS Mar 2026
- 287(g)in defianceRensselaer County and Nassau County have publicly vowed to keep their 287(g) federal cooperation agreements operational regardless of the new state law · lawsuit threat from Nassau Exec Blakeman (R)
David Paterson’s on-air remarks on Sunday morning are unusually pointed for the political register the former governor normally uses. Paterson, 71, is not a flame-thrower. He is a former state party chair, a former state senator, and the man who took over the governorship in March 2008 when his predecessor resigned in disgrace. He is institutionally Democratic in a way the current generation of New York Democrats — Hochul, Gounardes, Salazar, James, Mamdani — is not. When he calls a Democratic bill an “egregious mistake,” the framing carries weight because the same partisans who would dismiss Stefanik or Lawler making the same point cannot dismiss him.
“The last I heard, the federal government supersedes the local government. When I was governor, I tried to adhere to that.”
Former Gov. David Paterson (D-NY) · Cats Roundtable · 77 WABC Radio · May 24, 2026
That is the constitutional point: federal supremacy in immigration enforcement is settled doctrine going back to Arizona v. United States(2012), in which the Supreme Court struck down most of Arizona’s state-level immigration enforcement scheme precisely because immigration is a federal power. The NY for All Act does not attempt to enforce immigration law at the state level — the constitutional problem cuts the other way: a state statute that prohibits its police and agencies from cooperating with the federal authority that has the power. Whether that prohibition survives federal-preemption challenge is, as of this week, the question Nassau County intends to put before a federal judge.
“It was an egregious mistake they made.”
Former Gov. David Paterson (D-NY) · on the NY for All Act · May 24, 2026
Paterson did not stop at the constitutional critique. He went on to propose, on air, that the Republican county executives now publicly refusing to comply with the bill have a legal route open to them.
“Nassau County, Suffolk County, the other counties around the state could band together and bring a lawsuit against the state legislature itself, and the governor for taking this approach.”
Former Gov. David Paterson (D-NY) · Cats Roundtable · May 24, 2026
That is a former Democratic governor of New York — the most populous Democratic state on the East Coast — telling Republican county executives, on the radio, that he thinks they have a case against the sitting Democratic governor and her party’s legislative supermajority. Whatever else this story is, it is not a partisan story.
The legislation that cleared the New York State Senate and Assembly on May 21, 2026 is two pieces moving as a package. The first is the long-stalled NY for All Act, which has been kicking around Albany since 2019 and which Hochul publicly opposed as recently as January 2026 in her State of the State address. The second is a companion measure that creates a new “Office of Immigrant Trust”inside the Attorney General’s office — an enforcement and compliance arm staffed by AG Letitia James (D-NY) to police local jurisdictions that try to keep cooperating with ICE.
Prohibits state and local police, sheriffs, and corrections officers from honoring ICE civil detainers absent a judicial warrant.
Barsstate and local agencies from sharing information about an individual’s immigration status, release date, or home address with federal immigration authorities, with limited exceptions for serious felony cases.
Forbids participation in the federal 287(g)program — the partnership mechanism that lets sheriffs deputize trained jail staff to process immigration cases. Rensselaer and Nassau county jails currently operate under 287(g) agreements.
Createsan “Office of Immigrant Trust” inside the Attorney General’s office to monitor compliance and bring enforcement actions against non-compliant counties and municipalities.
Does notrepeal the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, the federal preemption doctrine, or the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution — the constitutional questions Paterson flagged.
Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra (R-NY) described the package as “dangerous government overreach.” Sen. Julia Salazar (D), one of its co-authors, told reporters the bill “doesn’t go far enough.”That tells you the political geography inside the Albany Democratic caucus: the bill is the floor, not the ceiling, of what the legislature’s left flank wants; the bill is well past the line of what the legislature’s right flank thinks is constitutional. Hochul has the signing pen and has to choose where to plant the flag.
The sanctuary-policy regime the NY for All Act expands is not a theoretical framework. It already has a year-long operating record, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has put a number on it. Between January 20, 2025— the start of the second Trump administration’s enforcement push — and the December 1, 2025 DHS release, the state and city of New York released 6,947 criminal illegal aliens from custody despite active ICE detainer requests. The category breakdown is the part voters do not normally see.
The 29 homicides at the top of the chart are not 29 future possibilities — they are 29 convictions or active charges already on the books in the cohort DHS counted. The 207 sexual-predator offenses include rape, sexual abuse of a minor, and registered sex offenders released back into the public. The 2,509 assault count is the largest line in the chart by an order of magnitude. None of these figures are projections; all of them are the documented record of releases that happened.
Flushing arson, March 16, 2026 — four dead. Roman Ceron Amatitla, an illegal alien who had been released by the NYC Department of Corrections despite an active ICE detainer request, is charged with eight counts of second-degree murder and arson in the Flushing fire that killed four people including a three-year-old child. DHS press release of April 16, 2026 specifically names sanctuary-policy non-cooperation as the releasing mechanism.
NYC subway shoving, March 12, 2026 — 83-year-old US veteran onto the tracks. The defendant in that case had been deported four prior times, had fifteen prior charges on his record, and was at liberty in New York at the time of the attack. DHS press release of March 12, 2026 documents the prior-removal history and the non-cooperation pattern that left him in the jurisdiction.
Note on presumption of innocence:Both defendants face pending criminal cases and are presumed innocent of all charges until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The releasing-mechanism point — the fact that ICE detainer requests were not honored before the alleged conduct — is independently documented by DHS and is the policy fact at issue regardless of trial outcome.
The Republican response to the NY for All Act has come along two tracks: the gubernatorial-candidate track, and the county-executive track. The first is political: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), both publicly considering or actively running for the 2026 GOP gubernatorial nomination, have made the sanctuary bill the centerpiece of their early campaign messaging. Lawler told reporters the bill is “a political stunt that will make New York less safe.”
The second track — the county-executive track — is operational rather than rhetorical. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R-Nassau) has publicly stated his intent to file suit against the state in federal court, arguing the prohibition on 287(g) participation preempts a federal program a federal statute created. Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin (R-Rensselaer) has taken the rhetorical floor as well — in a manner that Paterson’s op-ed would not approve of.
Let me absolutely guarantee this low IQ and dangerous Governor Hochul that Rensselaer County will once again ignore your stupidity. We WILL continue to work with ICE and 287(g). F OFF you vapid puppet.
McLaughlin’s register is unusual for an elected county executive responding to a sitting governor of his own state. The constitutional point underneath it — whether a county sheriff is bound by a state statute that conflicts with a federal program the county sheriff is authorized to participate in — is the same point Paterson made calmly on the radio.
Editorial paraphrase of Nassau County Executive Blakeman's documented public posture: Nassau County will sue the State of New York in federal court to block the NY for All Act's prohibition on 287(g) participation. Nassau will continue to honor ICE detainer requests and will continue to operate its 287(g) jail-deputization program until enjoined by a federal court. Verbatim Blakeman X post text not independently confirmed at publication.
The other flank pressing on Hochul is inside her own caucus. State Sen. Julia Salazar (D-NY), a member of the legislature’s left flank and a co-author of the bill, told reporters on the day of passage that the bill “doesn’t go far enough.” The implicit critique: the bill carves out exceptions for serious felony information-sharing with ICE; Salazar wanted no exceptions.
The political effect on Hochul: she is now being publicly told, simultaneously, that the bill is too aggressive(by the former Democratic governor on her own party’s right) and not aggressive enough(by the state senator on her own party’s left). Neither flank lets her settle. The Republican gubernatorial field gets a free pass either way: if Hochul signs the bill she has the “egregious mistake” quote from a Democratic former governor hanging around her neck, and if she vetoes it she has Salazar and the progressive caucus framing her as soft on civil-rights enforcement six months before her primary.
The federal pressure on the New York sanctuary regime has been led, publicly, by Border Czar Tom Homan, who has spent most of May 2026 in a running public exchange with Gov. Hochul about whether the federal government will surge ICE personnel into New York to compensate for state non-cooperation. Homan’s framing has been operational and blunt.
They're not going to stop us. They can put all the roadblocks they want, but we're going to do this job.
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
Border Czar Tom Homan on New York's sanctuary regime, paraphrased from Townhall coverage of his Phoenix Border Security Expo remarks, May 7, 2026.
You're not going to stop us, New York state. You've got to change the sanctuary status. If you don't, get out of the way — we're going to do our job. We'll double the man-force if we have to. Rather than one officer arresting a bad guy, now I have to send a whole team.
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
Homan on the operational cost of state non-cooperation, paraphrased from 77 WABC Radio coverage, May 12, 2026.
Hochul’s public response has been to triangulate against the President directly and to reframe state non-cooperation as a local-policing priority rather than an immigration-policy choice.
“All I'll say to Mr. Homan is that Donald Trump himself said he would not send a surge of ICE agents to the state of New York unless I ask. I'm not asking.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) · responding to Border Czar Tom Homan · Washington Examiner · May 2026
“I want our local police focused on solving and preventing local crimes.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) · framing of the sanctuary regime as local-policing prioritization · State of the State and follow-on remarks · 2026
Two things to notice about Hochul’s framing. First: it makes the policy contingent on a single sentence the President said about not surging ICE absent a gubernatorial request. The President can revise that sentence at any time. Second: the local-policing framing treats federal immigration enforcement and local crime control as a zero-sum trade, which is what the 287(g) program was specifically designed to disprove — the program exists precisely so that local jail staff can process immigration cases without diverting patrol resources from local crime work.
What it is: A federal program authorized under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1996, which lets state and local law-enforcement agencies enter into voluntary partnerships with ICE. Trained jail-deputization staff can identify and process removable aliens in local custody.
Who runs it in New York: As of 2026, Rensselaer and Nassau county jails have active 287(g) agreements. The NY for All Act would force both jurisdictions to terminate those agreements.
The constitutional question: Can a state statute prohibit a county sheriff from voluntarily participating in a federal program that a federal statute created? That is the question Nassau County intends to put to a federal judge.
For readers who haven’t followed New York state-government personnel closely, the political geography here is straightforward and worth laying out: every name on the bill, every name signing the bill, every name responsible for the enforcement of the bill, and every name in the AG’s office that will police compliance is from one party.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) — signs the bill. Up for re-election in 2026.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D, Brooklyn) — lead Senate sponsor of the NY for All Act.
State Sen. Julia Salazar (D, Brooklyn) — co-author; publicly says the bill doesn’t go far enough.
AG Letitia James (D) — gets new “Office of Immigrant Trust” compliance authority over non-cooperating counties.
Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra (R) — calls the package “dangerous government overreach.”
NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D) — has publicly attempted to keep some ICE cooperation alive in city jails; will lose what cooperation remains under the new state law.
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) — ran on a stronger sanctuary platform than Adams; will inherit the new state law as it takes effect.
The federal-side posture on the New York sanctuary regime has four named principals: President Donald Trump (R), AG Pam Bondi (R), FBI Director Kash Patel, and Border Czar Tom Homan. The first three have been deliberately quiet on the specific NY for All Act passage, leaving Homan to carry the operational rhetoric. The President has, in remarks since the legislative passage, kept the conditional posture he put on the record earlier this spring: no federal ICE surge to New York unless the governor asks.
I would not send a surge of ICE agents to the state of New York unless the Governor asks. But if she keeps blocking federal law, all options are on the table.
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
President Trump's publicly stated position on a federal ICE surge into New York, paraphrased from coverage of his remarks on the sanctuary standoff, May 2026.
The “all options” framing is the open question that tomorrow’s news cycle will turn on. The available options, in escalating order: (1) a DOJ preemption suit against the State of New York directly; (2) a federal-funding consequences exercise that conditions DOJ grants on jurisdictional cooperation; (3) an independent federal ICE operational surge that does not require state cooperation but does increase the operational cost per arrest Homan flagged; (4) federal prosecution of state and local officials who actively obstruct federal immigration enforcement. Each option has its own constitutional and political price tag.
Paterson is not the first elected Democrat to break with the party leadership on sanctuary policy — Mayor Adams has been a long-running internal critic; the city’s 2024-2025 migrant-crisis budget fight cracked the Democratic coalition in real time. But Paterson is the most senior. A former governor saying on the record that his own party has made an “egregious mistake” on a signature piece of progressive legislation is the kind of intramural break that surfaces only when the elder-statesmen judgment is that the underlying politics have slipped past where the party’s general-election voters actually live.
The pattern to watch for in the next two weeks is whether Paterson’s break is a singular event or the first of a cascade. The names to watch: former Mayor Michael Bloomberg (independent / former-D); former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D); Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D); House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY-15), who has been the most publicly skeptical House Democrat from New York on sanctuary mechanics. If any one of them follows Paterson on the record, the political read on the NY for All Act flips from party-line-vote to internal-Democratic crisis. If none of them do, Paterson’s critique stays an outlier elder-statesman grumble and the bill becomes Hochul’s.
What is on the record raises a disciplined set of further questions worth tracking:
- Whether Hochul signs.The bill is on her desk. Her public posture going into May 21 was supportive; her public posture after May 24 will be calibrated against Paterson’s critique. A veto would put her against the progressive caucus six months before her primary; a signature gives Stefanik and Lawler their headline ad.
- Whether Nassau County actually files. Blakeman’s public threat is the loudest. The case theory — federal preemption of a state statute that prohibits participation in a federal program — is real but is not uncontested doctrine. The actual filing, the case caption, and the assigned judge are the next data points.
- Whether Rensselaer County’s defiance survives first contact with AG James’s new Office of Immigrant Trust.McLaughlin’s “F OFF you vapid puppet” post is rhetoric; the operational test is whether his jail processes the next ICE detainer request after the law takes effect, and what AG James does about it if he does.
- Whether the federal-funding lever gets pulled. The Trump DOJ has, since 2017’s first run, used Byrne JAG and COPS grant conditions as leverage on sanctuary jurisdictions. The constitutional argument over those conditions is unsettled at the Supreme Court level. New York’s share of federal law-enforcement grant funding is large enough that the lever, if pulled, would register.
- Whether the 6,947 number keeps growing. DHS publishes the running release tally on its New York sanctuary page; the December 1, 2025 number is a snapshot, not a final count. If the next snapshot (expected late June 2026) crosses 10,000, the consequence axis Paterson is implicitly invoking gets sharper.
- Whether any other Democratic former governor follows.Cuomo’s public posture is unpredictable; Spitzer’s is essentially retired. Bloomberg is technically an independent. If any of them goes on the record with a Paterson-grade critique, the internal Democratic story changes shape.
This page will be updated as Gov. Hochul’s signing decision, Nassau County’s filing, AG James’s first enforcement action, and the next DHS release figure each come into the public record.