NY Gov. Kathy Hochul says ICE is making people afraid to attend church in MLK Day speech

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sunday during a worship service honoring the life of slain American civil rights activist and Baptist Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., claiming the agency is making people afraid to go to church.

“I never thought I'd see what is happening to our country, what is happening right now. And I think about the struggles … that are talked about in that beautiful song, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ [a] reminder of what our ancestors, your ancestors went through,” said Hochul to congregants at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

“Today, we have people struggling because they're in fear. They're too afraid to go to church because an ICE agent may take them out of this place and take them to a detention center, separating them from their families. That's what's happening in America today.”

Hochul's comment was a reference to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's immigration law enforcement operations under the Trump administration, which in January rescinding a policy enacted in 2011 during the Obama administration banning immigration law enforcement operations from "sensitive" areas, including churches and schools.

Opponents of the administration's push for increased enforcement operations have taken to the streets in protests and, in some cases, have interfered with federal operations. Tensions have been inflamed in recent weeks following the Jan. 7 shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Hochul pledged to continue pushing back against the Trump administration through proposed legislation and policy changes, seeking to restrict state resources for ICE activities.

Her proposed policies would shield sensitive locations, such as schools and houses of worship, from raids and allow New Yorkers to sue federal agents in state court for civil rights violations.

New York policy allows ICE agents to enter the public areas in houses of worship and other sensitive locations, but requires a warrant signed by a judge to enter the private spaces (like offices) of those locations.

“So I have said in my State of the State [speech], no ICE agent can come into a sacred place like a church or a hospital or a daycare center or a school without a warrant signed by a judge. You will not violate this sacred space. And if you cross the line, if you deny someone their constitutional rights, you should have a right to sue them in court,” Hochul declared.

“We're not surrendering our rights. People have fought too long and hard to get us here today. And we're not going backwards, my friend. Not now and not ever.”

In her address last Tuesday, Hochul criticized President Trump’s handling of the economy and immigration, saying it “make[s] our lives harder.”

“And just last week, the world watched as an immigration operation in Minneapolis that never should have happened — left a child without a mother, and a community, and indeed a nation, shattered,” she added.

“It’s all part of an agenda that only makes our lives harder. Well, here’s the thing about New Yorkers: We don’t back down. We rise up.”

Hochul's Sunday church address came on the same day that activists stormed a Southern Baptist Convention church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and forced its service to end early, claiming, one of the church's pastors serves as the leader of a local ICE office. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the incident for potential violations of federal law.