Update, 4/23/26: Negotiations between the Governor and Legislative leaders on a package of proposals to protect immigrant New Yorkers from federal immigration enforcement actions have taken center stage in recent days. On April 16, Governor Hochul released a proposal that includes expanded sensitive location protections which prohibit all state, local, and school employees from permitting immigration authorities access to any non-public area of a state-owned or operated facility without a judicial warrant. Schuyler Center welcomes the proposal’s extension of protections to privately-owned and operated sensitive locations, including child care programs, hospitals, schools, housing accommodations, and houses of worship—spaces where families must be able to access critical services without fear.
We are concerned that the governor’s proposal on local law enforcement coordination with federal immigration authorities does not go far enough to protect New York children and families.
The proposal would still allow significant cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents by authorizing local law enforcement to report a New Yorker to federal immigration upon a determination of “probable cause” that they committed a crime. Probable cause determinations are subjective, and can be susceptible to racial and other biases. This proposal would leave many New Yorkers at risk of being turned over to immigration enforcement and separated from their families before they have their day in court, particularly those in communities in which local law enforcement has pre-existing agreements with immigration enforcement.
We applaud New York leaders for making protecting immigrant New Yorkers a top priority, and we urge them to enact a strong final package that includes the full protections of the New York for All Act.
More than 1.4 million children in New York State live in immigrant families. That’s more than 1.5 times the size of the entire New York City public school system, the largest in the country. An estimated 324,400 New York children live with at least one undocumented family member. These are children in our classrooms, our child care programs, our communities.
With increased immigration enforcement activity and ICE presence in communities across the nation, and here in New York State, many of these children face the unthinkable reality of being separated from a parent, grandparent, sibling, or other family members. In most cases, they don’t know where their family member is or if they will return home.
The impacts of family separation on children are devastating and lasting: long-term health and psychological harm, significant income loss, and, in the most acute cases, children entering the foster care system. But the harm doesn’t just begin at the moment of detention or deportation. The chilling effect of enforcement is keeping families away from the programs and benefits they’re entitled to—pulling back from schools, health care, food assistance, and community life. When caregivers live in fear, children pay the price.
New York State has the power to change this, and we need our leaders to act now.
The New York for All Act (S.2235A Gounardes/A.3506A Reyes) would direct state and local officials to refrain from engaging in federal immigration enforcement activity or sharing sensitive information, including data, with federal authorities, except where explicitly required by federal law. It would also prohibit federal immigration officers from entering non-public areas of state and local property—including DMVs and social services offices—without a judicial warrant. This matters because fear of encountering immigration enforcement in the very spaces where families seek food, health care, and support is what keeps people away from services they need and to which they are entitled.
New Yorkers need the State to pass legislation that clearly precludes local governments from engaging in federal immigration enforcement activity and prohibits federal agents from accessing non-public government spaces or sharing personal data. We need the full New York for All Act, not a partial version that leaves too many doors open.
Passing New York for All is essential, but it can’t stand alone. Unlike in criminal proceedings, immigrants facing deportation have no guaranteed right to an attorney, meaning parents and caregivers are forced to navigate a complicated legal system alone. The data is stark: non-detained individuals without legal representation are 2.5 times more likely to be removed than those with representation. We urge Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie to pass both the Access to Representation Act (A.270 Cruz) and the BUILD Act (S.4538 Liu/A.2689 Cruz)—assuring that no immigrant New Yorker faces that system without support, regardless of their ability to pay.
Keeping families together is a moral imperative and an investment in the health, stability, and future of New York’s children. Every day without action is another day families live in fear.
Send a message to Gov. Hochul and your representatives to urge them to pass the New York for All Act today.