GOV’S RENEWED DEPORTATION PUSH: Gov. Kathy Hochul is one-upping the mayor’s recently heightened rhetoric on deporting undocumented New Yorkers — saying she will announce a “whole list” of crimes that will trigger deportations if they are committed by an undocumented immigrant. On Tuesday, during an unrelated press conference in Albany, the governor was asked by Playbook if the approach includes helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities deport undocumented immigrants who commit misdemeanors. “Serious crimes,” the governor said. “I'm talking about crimes where you are harming individuals, stealing property. We have a whole list.” The comments from Hochul come as she and Mayor Eric Adams have increasingly embraced hawkish rhetoric around deportation, rhetoric that dovetails with the incoming Trump administration’s “mass deportation” plan. Hochul said she’s developing “a full comprehensive approach” to the state’s cooperation with ICE and that she plans to unveil that approach at the start of next year. “Allow me the time, because we are developing all the nuances, because there are many involved in this,” she said, after revealing the list. “I think the public has the right to know. Law enforcement needs to know where I’m coming from. Washington needs to know where we're going to be helpful.” Her vow to enumerate the list of crimes that would trigger deportation comes after a new Siena poll revealed 54 percent of New York voters said the state should work to support Trump’s mass deportation plan. And it came just before Mayor Eric Adams’ highly anticipated meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming immigration czar Tom Homan. During the sit down, Adams pledged to work with Homan to deport undocumented immigrants who repeatedly commit crimes. A 2017 executive order from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo still prohibits state agencies from inquiring about immigration status. The governor’s office would not say if her new list of deportation crimes or her upcoming announcement would necessitate the repeal of that order. “As for the state executive order, the state should not be participating in immigration enforcement — separating families and destroying our economy. Point blank,” Murad Awawdeh, chief executive of the New York Immigration Coalition, told Playbook. Like Adams, the governor has shifted her tone on immigration of late. Two weeks ago she pledged to call ICE herself to carry out deportations. “If someone breaks the law, I’ll be the first one to call up ICE and say, ‘Get them out of here,’” the governor said. She clarified Tuesday that any calls to ICE would come after a conviction. “I will continue to work with all authorities to make sure that number one, you are not deported immediately, because I want you to go through my criminal justice system.” Still, immigrant advocacy organizations say her rhetoric is exceedingly dangerous. “What her statements show us is that she fundamentally wants to take us backwards, and she wants to do this at the most dangerous time for immigrant New Yorkers,” said Yasmine Farhang, the director of advocacy for the Immigrant Defense Project. “Instead of supporting New Yorkers who are struggling across their state, they're looking for political reasons to abdicate their responsibility to protect all of us, and instead parrot xenophobic and racist rhetoric coming from the Trump administration,” she said. — Jason Beeferman | 
