The Oswego County bodycam footage is not an isolated incident of a bad apple acting out of turn. It is a glaring symptom of a systemic loophole New York State continuously fails to close. As long as local law enforcement agencies are permitted to maintain backdoor channels with federal immigration authorities, the civil rights of marginalized communities remain in jeopardy.
The Anatomy of an Illegal Handover: Hastings, New York
Start with the raw material facts from January 2025 in Hastings, New York. Oswego County Sheriff’s Deputy Taylor, identified in the bodycam footage, pulls over a vehicle with Spanish speaking occupants. He detains the driver and passenger for up to 45 minutes. He then calls his personal acquaintance, a United States Border Patrol agent named Bell.
Over the phone, the deputy admits he cannot verify their English proficiency and shares the driver’s passport details. He writes a traffic ticket specifically to manufacture a reason to hold them while they wait for federal agents to arrive and make the arrest.
No judicial warrant. No probable cause beyond appearance and language. Just a phone, a badge, and the unchecked power to weaponize a routine traffic stop into a deportation handover.
A Documented Pattern of Complicity
This is not an isolated occurrence. Bodycam records obtained via public records requests show Oswego County Sheriff’s deputies called Border Patrol at least a dozen times between January and September 2025 during routine traffic stops.
Deputies held drivers far longer than legally required to issue standard traffic tickets, sometimes detaining civilians for 30 to 45 minutes simply to wait for federal agents to arrive. Sheriff Don Hilton oversees a department that actively treats local roads as an extension of the federal deportation machine.
Deputy Taylor did not need a formal contract to act as a federal enforcer. He only needed the institutional green light that New York State still refuses to revoke.
For the full context and related news reporting on these bodycam videos, review the original coverage and footage published by Syracuse.com.
Hochul’s Half Measures vs. Material Reality
Faced with mounting pressure as the federal climate grows increasingly hostile to immigrants, Governor Kathy Hochul rolled out the so called Local Cops, Local Crimes Act.
The legislation narrowly bans 287(g) agreements, which are the formal, written contracts that explicitly deputize local police as ICE agents. On paper, it sounds like progress. In practice, it changes absolutely nothing on the ground.
The Illusion of Sanctuary: Why Hochul’s ICE Bill Fails New York
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act” sounds like a victory in a press release, but it is a dangerous half measure. The legislation only bans formal written contracts with ICE. It intentionally leaves every informal back channel wide open.
The Loophole is the Threat
Look at the recently uncovered Oswego County bodycam footage. Deputy Taylor did not need a formal contract to illegally detain two men. He simply picked up his phone and called Border Patrol.
Hochul’s bill does nothing to stop this. By refusing to ban routine questioning and database sharing, the state is functionally greenlighting unconstitutional racial profiling. As State Senator Andrew Gounardes warned, this creates a system of “probable cause without due process.”
Accept No Substitutes
We cannot let Albany trade our neighbors’ safety for political theater. The New York for All Act (S2235B / A5686) remains the only legislation that explicitly bans both formal and informal collusion with ICE.
Take Action Today:
Find Your Representatives: Use the NY State Senate Directory to find your local lawmakers.
Make the Call: Call their offices and tell them: “Hochul’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act is a dangerous compromise. We demand the immediate passage of the full New York for All Act with zero loopholes for informal ICE collusion.”
Silence is complicity. Make the call.
The Economics of Deportation: Why the Loopholes Exist
Immigrant workers are not abstract policy props. They are the engine of New York, single handedly powering the state’s agriculture, construction, and service economies.
The deportation machine and the local police who enable it do not exist by accident. They exist to keep that labor divided, cheap, and disposable. When workers are forced to live under the constant, looming threat of removal, they are infinitely easier to exploit.
Governor Hochul’s loophole filled proposal is not a legislative misstep. It is a calculated feature. Her bill explicitly serves the interests of capital by maintaining that threat of deportation. It is designed to offer just enough political theater to deflect progressive demands, all while ensuring the systemic exploitation of immigrant labor remains entirely intact.
A bill designed to protect capital at the expense of human lives must be completely rejected.
Full Protection: No Compromises on the New York for All Act
The data is undeniable: immigrant workers are the absolute backbone of our economy and food supply, a fact heavily documented by the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Yet, the very people keeping this state running are under constant threat of deportationoften facilitated by our own local police.
We cannot rely on temporary or incomplete measures to protect our neighbors.
The Solution: A Hard Line
The New York for All Act (S2235B / A5686) is the only legislative response that meets this moment. It explicitly prohibits local law enforcement and state agencies from colluding with ICE and CBP.
Under the full act, local police could not:
Share sensitive database information with federal immigration agents.
Funnel people into ICE custody following routine traffic stops.
Allow federal agents into non-public areas without a judicial warrant.
It draws a hard, necessary line: Local tax dollars must not be used to fund the federal deportation machine. ### The Threat: Hochul’s Half-Measures
Governor Kathy Hochul is currently pushing a watered-down compromise that puts lives at risk. Her proposal narrowly bans formal, written contracts with ICE, but intentionally leaves massive loopholes open for “informal”, day-to-day collusion—like local deputies calling Border Patrol from the side of the road.
We cannot accept political theater. Allowing “probable cause without due process” functionally greenlights racial profiling and turns New York police into unpaid lackeys for a rogue federal agency.
Take Action Today
Silence is complicity. We must demand minimum material safeguards for the immigrant workers and native-born workers they stand beside. Here is exactly what you need to do:
1. Find Your Lawmakers
Locate your specific representatives using the NY State Senate and NY Assembly directories.
2. Make the Call
Call their offices directly (it is much more effective than an email) using this script:
“Hi, my name is [Your Name] and I live in your district. I am calling to demand that the Senator/Assembly Member publicly push for the immediate passage of the full New York for All Act (S2235B / A5686). We will not accept watered-down compromises from the Governor’s office. New York tax dollars must not be used to do ICE’s job. Thank you.”
Worker solidarity across borders is the only force that ever makes these systems blink. Make the call.
