| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Ciro Riccardi | ciro@lawlerforcongress.com | (845) 642-6569 Hochul’s new “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act” bars local police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, and Albany is now forcing departments to comply or lose state law enforcement funding. Yorktown Heights, NY – July 24, 2026… Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) was joined today by Assemblyman Matt Slater, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, local elected officials, and Jessica and Tom Gorman of Yorktown Heights for a press conference at the Yorktown Police Department, where they blasted Albany’s new sanctuary mandates on local law enforcement. Under Governor Hochul’s new “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” local police departments are barred from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, and the state is now forcing departments to comply or lose state law enforcement funding. The Gormans’ daughter, Sheridan, an 18-year-old Yorktown High School graduate and Loyola University freshman, was shot and killed in March in Chicago, a sanctuary city, while walking with friends near campus. The man charged with her murder is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. “Today we are here, as one community, to send a clear message to Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats: Stop tying the hands of our local police. Stop forcing sanctuary policies on our towns and villages, and stop putting politics ahead of public safety,” said Congressman Mike Lawler. “This so-called ‘Local Cops, Local Crimes Act’ does exactly the opposite of what its name suggests. This bill prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities and threatens to withhold state law enforcement funding from departments that refuse to comply. In plain English: Albany is trying to pressure our police departments.” “To my colleagues in Albany: the people of New York are watching criminals get protected while law-abiding citizens pay the price. It is time to choose safety over sanctuary. It is time to put the people before politics. New Yorkers are tired of it,” continued Lawler. “Kathy Hochul needs to immediately call the legislature back and repeal this disastrous law that they have enacted, and start cooperating on the deportation of criminal illegal aliens. It is not a hard concept.” “This was preventable. Every step of the way. And every step of the way, the government failed the Gorman family,” concluded Lawler. “Kathy Hochul needs to listen to the Gormans. Not to me, not to Bruce, not to Matt. To the Gormans.” “It’s no secret that Governor Hochul and the New York Democrats have taken our state in the wrong direction on public safety. First came cashless bail. Then Raise the Age. Then that disastrous prison staffing crisis. And then, after the murder of Sheridan Gorman, instead of asking what went wrong and how we can prevent the next tragedy, they chose to make New York a sanctuary state,” said Assemblyman Matt Slater. “How many families have to suffer before Albany realizes that we need to support our police and not tie their hands? How many victims will it take for Albany to understand that public safety is government’s first responsibility?” “An 18-year-old daughter, at the beginning of her life, gunned down by someone who should not have been in this country, because of sanctuary policies promulgated by those who have an agenda that is anti-American, anti-public-safety, pro-criminal. That needs to end,” stated Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. “Let’s do this for Sheridan’s memory. Let’s make something of her life that was cut short so early. Let’s give her family some comfort that she didn’t die in vain, by correcting these injustices that continue to happen throughout New York State.” “A father believes he can protect his children. We check the doors, we wait up until they come home,” said Tom Gorman. “But I cannot protect Sheridan from a government that refused to use every lawful tool available to protect her. And that truth will follow me for the rest of my life” “So I ask Governor Hochul and every politician defending these policies: How many warnings are enough? A theft, an assault, a weapons charge, a failure to appear, an active warrant, or must an American’s child die before you decide that someone is dangerous?” asked Mr. Gorman. “We will today ask Governor Hochul that same very question: Why is cooperation with federal immigration authorities too much to ask, but asking New Yorkers to bury their own children acceptable?” “All I can do is speak the truth. Sanctuary policies have consequences. Blocking communication has consequences. Refusing to enforce immigration law has consequences,” concluded Mr. Gorman. “And sometimes those consequences are carried forever by a father and mother who would give their life ten times over so that their daughter could live.” “My beautiful 18-year-old daughter was murdered in cold blood by a man who never should have been in this country,” said Jessica Gorman. “A man our government had already encountered, already arrested, and still failed to remove, because the politicians we chose, leaders like Kathy Hochul, choose failed sanctuary policies over the safety of our American citizens.” The speakers closed with a united call to end Albany’s sanctuary policies. Lawler demanded that Governor Hochul immediately call the legislature back into session and repeal the law, and pledged to fight in Congress to ban sanctuary policies nationwide. Blakeman, whose county maintains a 287(g) cooperation agreement with ICE, promised that his first executive order as governor would declare that New York is no longer a sanctuary state. Slater said Albany must find the courage to end sanctuary policies before another family endures what the Gormans have endured. And the Gormans urged New Yorkers to remember Sheridan this November and vote to end sanctuary policies. |