Officials in Capital Region sanctuary communities are reacting to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's pause on federal funding to such jurisdictions.
Sanctuary cities are municipalities that restrict or refuse to cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement.
In 2008 the city of Albany passed a resolution welcoming immigrants. Mayor Kathy Sheehan, speaking in 2016 at what was billed as an "anti-KKK Presidency Rally," affirmed that New York's capital is indeed a "sanctuary city," not only for all refugees, but for all who may feel or be displaced. This week, she defended that moniker.
"There's no legal definition of a sanctuary city. We are in full compliance," Sheehan said. "You know, if ICE has a judicial warrant for somebody in our custody, we turn that person over to ICE, so we're following the law. And again, this is a lot of bluster, I think it's an attempt to divide people, to scare people."
The third-term Democrat says it is unlikely Albany will lose federal funding. "...because we follow the law. So when the Trump administration attempted to do this back in 2017 and 2018 we ultimately succeeded in court. We didn't lose any funding, and I'm confident that, because we are following the law and that, you know, again, there's no basis to take funding away from the city of Albany," said Sheehan.
Bethlehem Town Supervisor David VanLuven, a Democrat, says the town board passed a resolution in 2017 declaring that the police department will not engage in activity solely for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws.
VanLuven says the previous Trump administration also threatened Bethlehem.
“We have a number of federal grants in the pipeline, mostly for transportation projects. The majority of those, my understanding is, are locked in contracts, and so the federal government would have to break a contract that they signed with us to take that money away. We do have one project I understand that may be getting wrapped up in, or slowed down by, federal bureaucracy because of new review processes that have been introduced as part of the government efficiency standards, which I find deeply ironic,” said VanLuven.
Sheriff Craig Apple says questions of freezing funding for sanctuary cities has "absolutely nothing to do with the Albany County Sheriff’s office or Albany County."
"As far as ICE going into public schools, I literally just came back from a national sheriffs conference in Washington D.C., and we had ICE and border patrol in there for several hours. And all they kept saying is they have no intention of doing that whatsoever. So I don't expect to see that in Albany County at all, and quite honestly, ICE is doing everything with federal authorities. The only folks that are putting up notices about working with ice are people that are trying to grab a headline ice is not asked us for any assistance nor do I expect them to,” Apple said.
Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox is on the same page.
"Right now, our focus is on equitable policing in this city. Right now, our focus is on taking care of public safety issues. Immigration is not a top priority for us. It's not a public safety issue for us right now. ICE has a job to do. That is a priority of the federal government. That is not a priority of the local government," Cox said.
A New York State Police spokesperson says troopers "have no authority to investigate or cooperate with federal authorities for civil immigration violations. We are only authorized to investigate and cooperate with federal authorities when there is a criminal violation."
The Trump administration’s hardline approach does have local supporters.
Republican Albany County Legislator Frank Mauriello is calling on Sheehan to direct the Albany Police Department to enter into an agreement with federal authorities allowing for cooperation with ICE and DHS.
“It’s time for Mayor Sheehan and other pro-sanctuary advocates to end the nonsense and return to a system of governance that puts the rule of law, the Constitution and every law-abiding, tax-paying citizen first," Mauriello said.
