New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is “grandstanding” over immigration enforcement, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Tom Homan.
Homan said Cuomo’s comments about ICE, in a cease and desist letter he sent to the agency on April 25, were “inaccurate and an insult.”
Cuomo claims that recent enforcement actions by ICE agents in New York “raise significant legal and public safety concerns” and called the conduct of ICE agents involved in recent arrests “egregious and unconstitutional.”
The letter demands the immediate stop of ICE’s “reckless and unconstitutional enforcement actions,” or else Cuomo will take legal action.
ICE Deputy Director Tom Homan called the governor’s comments “inaccurate and an insult.”
“ICE cannot and will not cease and desist from fulfilling our agency’s congressionally mandated mission of enforcing federal law,” Homan said in a statement on April 25.
In his letter, Cuomo brought up the arrest of Marcial DeLeon-Aguilar, an illegal alien from Guatemala, who has been deported three times and has felony criminal convictions for both reckless aggravated assault and illegal re-entry, according to ICE records.
DeLeon-Aguilar was arrested on the dairy farm where he was working in Rome, New York, on April 18.
Cuomo accuses the arresting ICE agents of unconstitutional behavior, saying the agents entered private land without a warrant, did not identify themselves, and assaulted DeLeon-Aguilar.
The court document, however, paints a different picture. It says the ICE agents entered a publicly accessible door by the farm’s milking parlor to find the owner of the farm. The agents spotted DeLeon-Aguilar, identified themselves as ICE officers, and asked to speak with his employer.
“At this time, DeLeon-Aguilar attempted to flee, at which time he was physically restrained by [an agent],” the criminal complaint reads.
Homan defended his agents, saying they acted professionally and within their legal authority under federal immigration law.
“ICE will continue to protect New York communities against public safety and national security threats, and it is false and offensive for the governor to say otherwise,” he said.
Political Move
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, said Cuomo’s actions are “shocking.”“He seems to be in complete denial of the need for immigration enforcement, the benefits it provides, and even the facts of the cases that he is objecting to,” Vaughan said.
She said DeLeon-Aguilar is a felon and should be a priority for ICE. “The governor is showing no regard for the rule of law, or for the legal immigration process, or for the people who are harmed by our failure to control illegal immigration.”
Vaughan said Cuomo’s move looks political, “because he is being challenged for reelection by someone who is even more anti-borders and anti-immigration enforcement than he is.”
Cuomo’s main opponent in the Sept. 13 primary is “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon.
“He’s trying to cover his left flank on immigration with this emotional reaction to perfectly legitimate ICE operations,” Vaughan said.
“He’s going after the vote of immigrants who have become citizens, but he’s also trying to gain the support of all the activist groups that do all the legwork in campaigns—like the unions and the advocacy groups—because they’re the ones that go through the neighborhoods knocking on doors, giving out literature, telling people to vote for him. And they tend to be very much anti-enforcement.”
Vaughan said she thinks Cuomo is miscalculating and risks alienating the Democrats who would like to see immigration laws enforced.
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