By Mark Weiner
syracuse.com
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood says New York Attorney General Letitia James and a new state law won’t stop him from cooperating with ICE in civil immigration enforcement cases.
Hood said a warning letter he received Friday from the attorney general’s office was nothing more than a political stunt aimed at making “a big splash before the election.”
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“This is going to affect me very little,” Hood told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. “I’m still going to work with ICE. They can’t prevent us from working with them.”
A bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in May bans state and local law enforcement agencies from helping the federal government in civil immigration enforcement cases. The ban takes effect on Aug. 25.
The state law prohibits local authorities from entering into formal or informal cooperation agreements with ICE. The law also bans local jails, juvenile detention centers and youth detention facilities from holding people on civil immigration charges.
Hood said he will terminate the Section 287(g) cooperation agreement his department signed with ICE, as required by New York’s “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act.”
But Hood said he still intends to work with ICE and honor its requests to detain and hand over any undocumented immigrants that come into custody at the Madison County jail.
“When somebody comes into my jail with a criminal charge, and they’re an illegal, they’ll still get notified,” Hood said of ICE. “They’re still going to come pick them up. The only thing is I can’t have a contract with them.”
James and the Attorney General’s Office had no comment Monday about Hood’s plan to continue cooperating with ICE.
Hood is among 12 county sheriffs and local police chiefs who received warning letters from James’ office Friday because of their formal agreements with ICE.
The new law specifically bans state and local governments or employees from cooperating with ICE in civil cases, even absent a formal agreement.
In the letter Friday, James’ office warned that her new Office of Immigrant Trust would take legal action against any local police or sheriff’s department that continued to cooperate with ICE.
The issue may be settled before the state can file any lawsuit against Hood and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department.
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit aimed at overturning the “Local Police, Local Crimes Act” on constitutional grounds. The federal lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Albany.
Hood, who is also the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in November’s election, said he sees no reason to change his longstanding policy to coordinate with any agency that asks for his department’s assistance.
The sheriff, in office for nine years, said he has always honored requests from ICE to detain and hand over undocumented immigrants who are booked into the Madison County jail on other charges.
Hood said his department has honored seven detainer requests from ICE since September 2025. He said those cases involved people charged with rape, driving while intoxicated, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
Hood said his willingness to hand over people wanted in civil immigration enforcement cases has helped keep Madison County a safe place without causing major disruptions in the community.
“The majority of people that we deal with are coming into my jail on a criminal charge,” he said. “I don’t have to go into people’s houses. I don’t have to go into their place of business or worship. They come to me. They’ve already done something wrong. They don’t belong in our country. And now they’re committing a crime. So, it’s time to go.”
The new state law prohibits ICE and federal law enforcement officers from entering sensitive locations – such as schools, libraries, health care facilities, polling locations and homes – without a judicial warrant. The federal officers are also banned from wearing masks while on duty.
Hochul, commenting on the warning letters sent Friday, said it’s important for New York to stand up against federal overreach with immigration enforcement.
“Nobody is above the law,” Hochul said. “In New York, we will not tolerate the diversion of local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement at the expense of public safety.”
Hood dismissed Hochul’s comments and the state’s effort to rein in ICE as nothing more than politics. He’s campaigning on a ticket this fall with Bruce Blakeman , the Republican nominee for governor.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me that they would implement laws like this,” Hood said. “You know, the cops are out there trying to keep people safe. And it seems like in the past few years our biggest obstacle is not criminals. It’s New York state government.”
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