The Trump administration is preparing to deploy a significant increase in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel to New York City; a move showing that he is not concerned about furthering tensions with progressive Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul as disputes continue over the president’s immigration enforcement agenda.
Speaking on Fox News on Monday, President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said he had alerted Hochul to the planned operation before she signed legislation last month that restricts certain ICE activities and prohibits agents from wearing masks while conducting operations in New York.
“You’re going to see more ICE than you’ve ever seen in New York City, and it’s coming,” Homan said on Fox. “I just reviewed an operational plan. I’m not going to tell you exactly when it’s going to happen, but it’s coming.”
Although Trump and Homan have previously vowed to dramatically expand the presence of immigration enforcement officers in New York City, those plans have not yet been implemented on the scale seen in other Democratic-led cities and states.
Homan has repeatedly argued that immigration arrests are more efficiently carried out when individuals are already being held in local jails rather than being located and apprehended in the community. He said he privately warned Hochul that New York City would see a large influx of ICE agents if state policies prevented federal officers from taking custody of individuals already detained by local law enforcement.