Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul provided an update to New Yorkers about her recent meeting with White House Border Czar Tom Homan. The briefing took place in the Red Room, where Hochul was joined by Head of State Operations Jackie Bray.
Governor Hochul explained that she initiated the conversation with Homan during a visit to the White House two weeks ago due to concerns about immigration enforcement in New York. Following their phone discussion, Homan agreed to meet with her in person.
During the briefing, Hochul stated: “First of all, I do not support open borders. We want to make sure that our borders are safe and secure. I do not support having individuals who’ve committed violent crimes remain in our state — they should be deported. But I also believe in a pathway to citizenship and the opportunities for people who are already here, who came with legal status, who were welcomed at the door and given a legal document, a pathway to citizenship through asylum — I want those individuals to be able to work. We talked about work permits and how important that is to be able to allow them to work on our farms and in hospitality and in health care, and all the jobs that are going unfilled now.”
Hochul referenced a recent incident involving a refugee in Buffalo: “I spoke about the incident in Buffalo, how horrific it was, and I comforted the wife of the refugee who was blind and left abandoned at a Tim Hortons a few weeks ago during a very cold night, and that led to his death. And we gave him a list of names of family members left in Myanmar and asked that they be given visas so they can be united. This is the sobbing widow’s request to me, so I said we would pursue that as well.”
The governor also raised concerns about students currently held in detention: “We also provided the names of a number of students who are in detention that we would like to see released.” She expressed opposition toward expanding detention centers within New York State: “I’d also mentioned how we do not want to see any large scale detention centers or expansions of detention centers here in the State of New York. That has created anxiety all the way from Orange County to Suffolk County, to the North Country and Rochester — so I raised those issues as well.”
Hochul concluded by emphasizing her role as governor: “That is basically the context of the conversation. It was an important conversation to be had for him to hear directly from me the concerns I have on behalf of New Yorkers as I continue my prime responsibility, which is to keep New Yorkers safe  and I will not be disclosing his side of the conversation. I’m just telling you what I raised with him.”
The full video recording of this event is available for streaming on YouTube.