Deportation Pressure Begins

Putnam, Dutchess receive warnings from legal group

During an appearance in November on the cable channel Newsmax, Putnam Executive Kevin Byrne emphasized that the county is not a “sanctuary” for undocumented immigrants. 

Despite that assertion and the county’s passage in 2023 of a resolution declaring it will cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Putnam made a list of “sanctuary strongholds” compiled by America First Legal, a conservative nonprofit founded by Stephen Miller, who will become President-elect Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy on Jan. 20. 

America First Legal said it sent letters in December to 249 public officials, including Byrne and Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino, warning that “it is a crime to conceal, harbor or shield” undocumented immigrants or prevent federal officers from enforcing immigration law. 

“We have identified your jurisdiction as a sanctuary jurisdiction that is violating federal law,” the letter reads. “Such lawlessness subjects you and your subordinates to significant risk of criminal and civil liability.” 

The pressure is expected to increase on local officials when Trump takes office this month and sets about fulfilling a promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. To accomplish that, the administration will likely need help from local authorities, including county sheriffs.

While some outspoken sheriffs are vowing to assist, Rob Milby, the sheriff in upstate Wayne County and a member of the National Sheriffs’ Association’s border security committee, told News 8 in Rochester in December that discussions with Trump representatives have yet to produce a definitive policy. 

“If our [federal] law enforcement brothers and sisters do come into Wayne County and they ask for assistance, immediate assistance, for something that’s going on, we’re certainly going to respond,” he said. “But as far as going out and leading the charge on immigration issues, we don’t have any plans to do that.” 

In Dutchess, Capt. John Watterson, a representative for the Sheriff’s Office, said on Tuesday (Jan. 7) that “immigration laws fall under the jurisdiction of federal authorities, and at this time we are not aware of any plans to have the Sheriff’s Office become involved in their enforcement.” 

In Putnam, Byrne’s office said on Wednesday (Jan. 8) that the county has “not had any direct communication with the federal government on this issue.” On Thursday, Sheriff Kevin McConville said he also had not been contacted by federal authorities “regarding the matter of illegally entered migrants,” although the department “has discussed the matter internally.” The sheriff said he had no further comment “until such time as we are officially contacted by a federal agency and have the opportunity to thoroughly review any such proposal.”

Byrne appeared on Newsmax after an undocumented man from Chile was charged with shooting his girlfriend and her two teenage sons in Somers, killing one of the boys — an incident that America First Legal cited in its letter to Putnam, writing that “your sanctuary policies have had a real impact on your local residents.”

During the interview with Newsmax, Bryne mentioned his signing in July 2023 of a resolution declaring Putnam to be a “rule of law” county that works with ICE to “properly identify arrested felons and gang-associated members who are suspected violators of federal immigration law.” 

The resolution had earlier passed the Legislature by a 7-1 vote, with only Nancy Montgomery, a Democrat who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, voting no.

“Sanctuary policies, quite frankly, they’re stupid,” Byrne told Newsmax. “Anything that prevents law enforcement from sharing information with other partners in law enforcement, including federal law enforcement such as ICE, you’re limiting our ability to keep our community safe.” 

On Tuesday, the U.S. House passed, 264-159, a bill vote requiring the detention of undocumented migrants accused — but not necessarily convicted — of theft or burglary. Mike Lawler, a Republican whose district includes Philipstown, voted yes and Pat Ryan, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, voted no. The legislation’s prospects are uncertain in the Senate. 

Also on Tuesday, state Assembly Member Dana Levenberg, a Democrat whose district includes Philipstown, said that “everyone agrees it should be easier” to deport people involved in violent crimes and organized crimes like drug trafficking. Studies have shown, however, that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans.  

Some lawmakers in the Democrat-led state Assembly and Senate are contemplating legislation ensuring residents have access to legal assistance in immigration proceedings, said Levenberg. She would back that legislation, as well as codifying that “police funded by local and state taxpayers are there to enforce local and state laws.” 

Having local police “deputized” by the federal government would “take them away from the jobs they are supposed to be doing — keeping us safe,” said Levenberg. 

An estimated 11.3 million undocumented immigrants (23 percent of the foreign-born population) live in the U.S., including 850,000 in New York, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Thirty-seven percent are from Mexico and 18 percent from three Central American countries (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras), according to the Pew Research Center. 

There are no estimates for the number of undocumented residents in Dutchess or Putnam counties. According to federal census data, Putnam has 13,500 foreign-born residents (about 13.5 percent) and Dutchess has 35,400 (12 percent), which includes naturalized citizens and legal residents. 

Undocumented immigrants paid $97 billion in federal taxes in 2022, including $3.1 billion in New York, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, another think tank. More than a third of those taxes supported programs that undocumented immigrants cannot access, such as Medicare and Social Security.

“Immigrants are important, critical members of our communities, and protecting immigrants is about keeping families together, keeping our communities stable and supporting our economy in the midst of a labor shortage,” said Levenberg.

Although Congress controls spending, Trump’s aides have said he plans to target Democratic-led “sanctuary” cities such as Chicago, whose mayor recently vowed “there will not be any cooperation” with ICE deportations. When Trump made the same vow after he took office in 2017, local municipalities were careful to avoid using the word in resolutions.

In April 2017, for example, the Philipstown Town Board passed a resolution, by a 3-2 vote, forbidding town employees from assisting ICE “unless such investigation or inquiry is required by state or federal law or by court order.”

Although listed on the agenda as a measure “declaring Philipstown a sanctuary town,” the resolution does not include the word sanctuary. Instead, it speaks of upholding “the rights of all,” regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and immigration status.

John Van Tassel, who later became supervisor, voted against the measure. “This, to me, is way outside of anything we should be involved in,” he said at the time. 

Earlier that same month, the Beacon City Council unanimously passed a resolution declaring the city to be “welcoming, safe and inclusive” but also avoiding sanctuary.

In addition, neither Putnam nor Dutchess are part of a federal program called 287(g) that trains police officers to enforce immigration laws by screening people they arrest. They are also authorized to “execute administrative warrants” on jailed noncitizens. As of December, the program had agreements with 135 police agencies in 27 states. 

Most of the 287 (g) agencies are in Florida, North Carolina and Texas; only one in New York, the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office, participates. 

In 2007, some Putnam residents protested when then-Sheriff Don Smith declined to join.

He said the Sheriff’s Office already reported undocumented immigrants to ICE and held detainees for its agents. Putnam had turned over 13 wanted immigrants in the first half of that year, Smith told The Journal News. 

Four years later, in an op-ed published by the newspaper, Smith said that participation in 287(g) “would have cost the taxpayers significantly more money and could have hurt our community policing efforts because it would have involved my office in the enforcement of civil violations of immigration law versus the mere identifications and reporting of criminal immigrants.”