Democratic Governors Scramble To Build A Legal Wall Against Trump’s Deportation Agenda

ALBANY, New York — Democratic governors are racing to erect new legal barriers to President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation strategy, limiting the reach of federal immigration officials in their states.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed an order restricting how closely police can work with federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger on her first day in office rescinded her Republican predecessor’s executive order that encouraged such cooperation. And in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker called for a state oversight commission that he created to expand its investigation into immigration enforcement practices, with an additional focus on senior figures in the Trump administration.

On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul became the latest to make an immigration-related move. She is seeking to end agreements that allow federal agencies like ICE to deputize local police officers for the purpose of carrying out civil deportations.

“We’re sending a strong message to ICE: You will not weaponize our police in the state of New York,” Hochul said.

Taken together, the efforts paint a picture of growing alarm among state-level Democratic executives after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, by federal immigration officers roiled the nation. National polling found voters’ support for ICE’s actions and Trump’s aggressive deportation plans have sharply dropped while the president has signaled plans to pull back on efforts in Maine and Minnesota, where Pretti and Good were killed. A POLITICO poll this week found nearly half of Americans — 49 percent — believe Trump’s deportation effort is too aggressive.

The governors’ approach underscores how quickly the dynamic has shifted against Trump’s campaign promise to swiftly deport undocumented immigrants — an issue Democrats struggled to counter effectively during the 2024 election.

Halting federal immigration officers from forceful, high-profile actions in their states comes with significant financial and political risk for these chief executives.

Their countermeasures come as the Trump administration has vowed to pull federal funding from states and cities with so-called sanctuary policies by Monday. And the proposals may further complicate the political dynamics for moderate Democrats in suburban swing seats that stand to determine control of the closely divided House.

“What we're seeing is a direct response to the Trump administration’s lawlessness and the way in which they’ve been operating with impunity,” said New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Murad Awawdeh. “States as a whole should be embracing their ability to self-govern. They’re exercising their right to state sovereignty in this moment.”

The Trump administration condemned the efforts by Hochul and similar pushes in other states to prevent local law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities.

“Our partnerships with state and local law enforcement are key to removing criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from American communities,” said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. “When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with us, that is when we have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities. Seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE.”

Yet Democratic governors are increasingly willing to exercise their authority to bolster protections for undocumented immigrants living in their states.

Healey on Thursday signed an executive order that would prohibit state agencies from entering into new agreements with ICE that would deputize local officials to act as federal immigration officers. Her executive order also bans immigration officers from making civil arrests in non-public parts of state buildings and prohibits federal officials from staging immigration operations on state property.

Healey filed legislation — which will require legislative approval — that would effectively ban ICE from making arrests without a warrant in schools, hospitals and courthouses. The measure, which she tacked onto a supplemental budget bill, would make it illegal for another state to deploy its National Guard in Massachusetts without Healey’s approval.

Healey, a first-term Democrat, has steadily ramped up her rhetoric against ICE as she faces a trio of well-funded Republican opponents. Federal immigration officials are “instigating, antagonizing and, yes, causing violence in communities,” she said at a press conference Thursday at the Massachusetts State House.

In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills — who is looking to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins —threw her support behind a bill that, as in Massachusetts, would ban ICE agents from entering private areas of schools, child care centers and public libraries without a warrant or subpoena.

Mills’ backing came on the heels of an in-state ICE surge, which the Department of Homeland Security dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day.” The raids were met with backlash from Democratic officials, including Mills, who denounced them as an attack on democracy during her recent State of the State address. Collins, one of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans, said Thursday that ICE would end the surge.

In Oregon, Gov. Tina Kotek said last weekend the state Legislature would respond to an immigration enforcement surge that’s expected in early February. Earlier this month, state lawmakers announced a litany immigration-related bills, including measures that would prohibit federal officers from wearing masks and allow Oregonians to sue federal agents.

One bill would allow the state to retaliate if federal funding is frozen by withholding state payments to the federal government.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who was inaugurated last week, has criticized the Trump administration’s immigration efforts during her first days in office, calling ICE a “proto-militia.” On Wednesday, she said her administration will create a portal to upload photos and videos of ICE operations — a move that other states, like New York and California, have made as well. She also said federal immigration agents would not be allowed to conduct operations on state property. Republicans condemned Sherrill after her announcement, with the state GOP accusing her of spreading "dangerous rhetoric and policy.”

Through the state’s Immigrant Trust Directive, New Jersey already limits state and local police from working with federal immigration authorities. That policy is not codified as law, but Sherrill’s administration has signaled it would support a bill to do so. Still, some immigrant rights groups are urging her to go further and are demanding more restrictions on cooperation between local and federal officials.

Other governors, like Pritzker in Illinois, are pursuing state-level probes of the Trump administration’s actions.

The potential White House contender said the Illinois Accountability Commission, which tracks alleged abuses stemming from aggressive federal immigration operations, should scrutinize high-ranking federal officials for their role in escalating enforcement tactics.

Pritzker directed the commission to analyze public statements, internal decision-making and the operational roles of White House adviser Stephen Miller, border czar Tom Homan, Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as well as several other Trump administration officials.

“For too long, Gregory Bovino and his rogue federal agents have terrorized communities in Illinois and across the country, violated our people’s Constitutional rights, and unleashed violence at every turn,“ he said in a statement.

Hochul, a moderate Democrat who faces reelection this year, framed her proposal as a public safety-focused plan aimed at allowing police officers to address local crime problems. She unveiled it flanked by district attorneys and New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch with a lectern sign that read “Keeping New Yorkers Safe.”

Hochul insisted local police departments would still arrest undocumented immigrants charged with crimes.

“We will always cooperate with the federal government to bring criminals to justice,” she said.

The New York governor has previously called for blocking federal immigration enforcement officers from sensitive locations like schools and houses of worship when conducting civil deportation proceedings. She also wants to make it easier for people to sue federal officials — like ICE agents — if their constitutional rights were violated.

Yet Hochul has been under left-flank pressure in Albany to expand her approach. Top Democratic state lawmakers this month embraced a measure known as New York For All that would create new sanctuary-style provisions restricting local police coordination with federal immigration officials. New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said this week that Pretti’s killing last weekend would hasten her chamber’s plan to pass the bill.

Hochul’s new proposal, which requires approval from the Legislature, would ban so-called 287g agreements between local police and federal immigration authorities that broaden coordination efforts between different agencies. Only a handful of police departments in New York have such understandings. One of them was approved a year ago by her likely Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

Hochul insisted she did not propose the measure as a direct attack on her GOP foe. Blakeman, who has shown no daylight with Trump on his deportation strategy, said in a statement he would try to reverse the law if elected governor.

“Gov. Hochul is the most pro-criminal governor in the United States who has a callous disregard for the safety of our communities and victims of crime,” he said. “When I am governor, I will veto that legislation.”

Natalie Fertig contributed to this report.