Thank New York’s Political Leaders for the Outrageous Ruling Requiring Suffolk to Pay $60M for Detaining Undocumented Migrants

A federal judge has mandated that Suffolk County taxpayers pay $60 million due to the county sheriff’s “infraction” of detaining undocumented migrants at the request of ICE or Homeland Security, stemming from the irrationalities of New York law (or New York politicians).

This week, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine lamented the absurdity of federal Judge William Kuntz’s ruling, which he intends to appeal due to its dubious interpretation of both federal and local legislation.

Kuntz determined that the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office “was operating without the federal statutory authority” in complying with requests to detain individuals illegally present in the U.S., asserting that the relevant federal “statute only allows such assistance when it is ‘consistent with state and local law.’”

However, was it genuinely at odds with state law?

In 2017, activists initiated a class-action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of “undocumented migrants” — the same year then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo enacted Executive Order 170, claiming to prohibit state law enforcement (and state personnel) from sharing immigration information with federal entities “for the purpose of federal civil immigration enforcement, unless mandated by law.”

The following year, Cuomo issued another mandate stipulating that federal immigration agents can only make civil arrests at state facilities if they possess a federal judicial warrant or order.

Ultimately, in 2020, Cuomo enacted the Protect Our Courts Act, which disallows ICE from arresting individuals near courthouses without a judicial warrant.

Notice that none of these measures explicitly address whether to honor detainers, nor is it clear that the governor had the legal authority to restrict the Suffolk sheriff, who is a county official and employee.

The only additional support for Kuntz’s reasoning is a brief from state Attorney General Letitia James, which claims that the detention of an undocumented immigrant for deportation “is unauthorized by state law.”

Even if her assertion is valid, it does not imply that the sheriff’s conduct is inconsistent with state law, as Kuntz’s ruling suggests.

As they cater to various interest groups, politicians like Cuomo and James frequently misrepresent facts and sometimes disregard them outright; other politicians and much of the media often complicity reinforce these narratives, leading to a consensus on matters that aren’t actually true.

Judge Kuntz, a former commercial and labor litigator appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011, seems to have accepted one of these misconceptions.

Current state law remains silent on this specific issue.

Furthermore, the authority of a governor to simply declare New York a sanctuary state may be limited to a fabrication within Andrew Cuomo’s self-serving perspective.

The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office complied with legitimate requests from federal law enforcement to detain clear border violators until federal agents could apprehend them and initiate deportation proceedings.

It’s absurd for Kuntz to equate that with a multitude of civil-rights violations, resulting in a $60 million obligation for taxpayers.

The violent migrant gang MS-13 has long troubled Long Island; the even more dangerous Tren de Aragua is expanding in and around New York City.

State residents surely appreciate federal assistance in removing these threats.

Yet, the local Democratic political class (which certainly includes Judge Kuntz) appears more inclined to cater to progressive activists.

Suffolk’s leaders must contest this outrageous ruling, possibly escalating it to the US Supreme Court.

Governor Hochul should revoke every “sanctuary” directive issued by Cuomo.

Congress ought to explicitly override any state law that attempts to restrict ICE’s operations.

And pragmatic New Yorkers need to reclaim their state government from the extremists and opportunists who have weaponized it against them.