The Westchester County Legislature’s Democratic Caucus’ goal for an early summer approval of legislation to set forth a policy on immigration enforcement may be unlikely, with the proposal still pending in three separate committees.
Joe Sgammato, the press secretary representing the Democratic Caucus, said that while the proposal is yet to garner any support from the county’s Republican lawmakers, Democrats are still pushing for it to become law by summer.
“We have heard positive things,” he said about Republican support for the bill. “It’s been a process with countless stakeholders and advocates so we have already covered most of the questions that are going to be used to attack it.”
As of press time, eight Democrats on the county Board of Legislators have pledged their support for the pending legislation. But the proposal would require the vote of at least nine members of the full 17-member Legislature to be approved if it makes out of committee.
In addition to lacking any official support from board Republicans, the proposal still has to make its way through the committees on Budget and Appropriations, Legislation, and Public Safety and Social Services.
Matt Richter, the press secretary representing the Republican Caucus, said that while there isn’t an official “headcount” of how many Republicans on the board favor the idea, it’s likely that some will throw their support behind the proposal when the final document is presented. “There’s no particular language in the bill that we’re objecting to, but overall, the language of it is being discussed,” he said.
Known as the Immigration Protection Act, it aims to prevent Westchester County emergency services from aiding the federal government in investigations made on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity and national origin.
The pending legislation was submitted to codify existing policies adopted under the administration of former County Executive Andy Spano, a Democrat, while also drawing from model ordinances put in place by the New York state attorney general’s office in order to alleviate concerns about the treatment of immigrants living in county.
First introduced back in February, the proposal came out of uncertainty over Republican County Executive Rob Astorino’s stance on the existing executive order relating to confidential information and immigration status that was signed by Spano in 2006.
In Westchester County government, the incumbent county executive can legally repeal any executive order made by one his predecessors.
Jerry McKinstry, a spokesman for the Astorino administration, declined to comment on the proposal since it is still being worked out in committee. However, he said, “Any proposal that jeopardizes public safety will be a non-starter.”
On top of the Spano policy, the new proposal would also prohibit county police officers and officials from honoring requests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection, which do not give rise to probable cause, and protects Westchester from liability due to false arrests and imprisonments.
The idea to set an immigration policy came in response to a nationwide effort led by Republican President Donald Trump to deport undocumented immigrants. ICE has made 21,362 arrests from Jan. 20 through March 13 of this year, according to new data from the federal agency, marking a 33 percent increase overall in arrests over the same time period last year. ICE arrested 16,104 people last year during the same window.
