Immigration & Border Security: Defending New York, Defending America

Governor’s Note: We are a nation of immigrants—but we are also a nation of laws. The crisis at our southern border has become a crisis at our local doorstep. New York is being overrun—not just with illegal crossings, but with budget strain, public safety breakdowns, and unchecked federal overreach. We will restore security, sovereignty, and sanity to our state’s role in immigration enforcement.

What It Takes to Get It Done: State leaders must stop pretending immigration chaos is someone else’s problem. As Governor, I will:

• End all sanctuary city and sanctuary state policies by executive order on day one, including non-cooperation clauses with ICE and DHS.
• Deploy the New York National Guard to ports, transportation hubs, and state-managed migrant shelters to vet for public safety threats and enforce immigration holds.
• Sign the Border Burden Reimbursement Act to require any NY county that accepts federal migrant funds to report spending, crime data, school strain, and health usage quarterly.
• Launch a State Immigration Impact Portal for citizens to report concerns, track migrant-related spending, and review policy outcomes county by county.
• Support legal action against the federal government for overreach and unfunded mandates relating to asylum housing, healthcare, and education.
• Ban state funding for IDNYC-style programs or any benefit programs that provide identification, cash, or legal assistance to illegal aliens.

Why This Matters to You

• New York City alone has spent over $4.3 billion on migrant housing, food, and services since 2022, with no end in sight.
• Crime has spiked in areas near unvetted shelters and hotels housing migrants. NYPD has arrested migrants for weapons, theft, and gang activity, including international affiliates.
• Schools are overwhelmed, with over 28,000 non-English-speaking migrant students added in under 18 months, costing hundreds of millions in new staff and translation mandates.
• Hospital emergency rooms in border-sharing and sanctuary counties have reported 20%+ increase in usage, delaying care for citizens.
• Unvetted migrants are being placed in family neighborhoods, near schools, with no input from residents or local governments.
• Drug and human trafficking rings have expanded operations across I-87, I-95, and MTA corridors, as border chaos spills north.
• Illegals caught committing crimes are often released due to New York’s sanctuary restrictions, allowing repeat offenders to remain in the system.
• ICE detainer requests are ignored by many NY jails, leading to over 300 released detainees in 2023 alone—many rearrested for new crimes.
• Taxpayers are footing the bill, while their own schools, hospitals, and services fall into decline. The burden is real—and it’s growing every day.

This is not about race or party. It’s about law, order, and fairness. A government that cannot defend its own citizens cannot be trusted to govern anything else.