New York attorney general launches first enforcement action under immigrant-protection law
New York’s Office of Immigrant Trust has issued its first enforcement action, directing federal immigration authorities to unwind identified agreements by Aug. 25, 2026.
Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the action on July 27. It is the first announced use of enforcement authority by the state office created under New York’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act.
The state’s action concerns agreements involving federal immigration authorities and New York state or local law-enforcement entities. State officials contend that the agreements identified in the action conflict with the new law’s limits on the use of state and local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement.
The announcement sets a compliance date, but it does not establish whether federal immigration authorities will comply with the directive by the deadline.
What the office is directing
The Office of Immigrant Trust said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, must unwind the agreements identified by the state no later than Aug. 25, 2026.
That date is the next known step described in the announcement. For New York state or local law-enforcement entities involved in agreements covered by the action, it provides a specific deadline tied to the state’s enforcement effort.
The available source does not specify the full number of agreements covered by the notice or identify the names of all agreements at issue. As a result, the public announcement does not provide a complete list of the state and local entities affected.
It also does not say that ICE, or another federal immigration authority, has accepted or rejected the state’s directive. The announced deadline is therefore a demand from the state office, not confirmation that the agreements will be unwound.
New law and new office
Hochul signed the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act on May 27, 2026. The legislation created the Office of Immigrant Trust.
According to the attorney general’s office, the new office was created to enforce New York laws that limit the use of state and local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement. The July action marks the office’s first announced enforcement action under that framework.
The state describes the law as a protection for immigrant communities. In this enforcement action, officials are applying the law’s restrictions to agreements they say are inconsistent with those limits.
The announcement is significant because it moves the new office from its creation in state law to a specific enforcement demand involving identified agreements. It also places the question of compliance on a defined timetable rather than leaving the matter solely at the level of the statute’s enactment.
What remains unresolved
The action is not a court ruling and does not itself provide a final resolution of the agreements at issue. The source packet supports the state’s position that the identified agreements conflict with the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, but it does not establish a judicial finding on that question.
Nor does the announcement establish what will happen after Aug. 25 if the identified agreements have not been unwound. No response from ICE or another federal authority is confirmed in the available material.
For now, the confirmed development is the state’s first announced enforcement action through the Office of Immigrant Trust and its Aug. 25 compliance deadline. Whether federal immigration authorities act by that date remains unresolved in the announcement issued by James and Hochul.
Sources
- Attorney General James and Governor Hochul Announce First Enforcement Action by New Office of Immigrant Trust, New York State Office of the Attorney General
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