NYS task force's goal: Cushion Trump impact on state's policies

A New York State task force has been strategizing how to resist President-elect Donald Trump's right-leaning policies on immigration, guns, labor, abortion, the environment and more, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday.

The effort began even before Election Day.

Both Hochul and James said they’d try to work with the forthcoming Trump administration. But they also said the task force is coordinating — before Trump's inauguration — with state agencies, the state’s congressional delegation and the outgoing Biden administration to find ways to cushion the state's policies from Trump's reach.

The plan is called the Empire State Freedom Initiative.

Hochul, at a news conference in her office in Midtown Manhattan, congratulated Trump on his victory but warned, "if you try to harm New Yorkers or try to roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way."

The task force includes representatives from various state agencies including the governor's Office of Federal Affairs, the Office of Counsel and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

James, who campaigned for office opposing Trump and has long battled him in court, said she’s also been working with other Democratic state attorneys general across the country to fend off "any attempt to roll back our rights."

"We are prepared to fight back once again," she said. "We’re ready to respond to their attacks. We’re ready to respond to any attempts to cut or eliminate any funding to the great state of New York."

One of Trump’s signature campaign pledges has been to threaten America’s biggest deportation operation ever, in which millions of immigrants suspected of living in the United States illegally would be rounded up and held in camps pending being deported.

During Trump’s first presidency, he tried but ultimately lost a legal battle to cut federal grant money from sanctuary city jurisdictions like New York that refuse to cooperate with federal efforts to conduct immigration enforcement. Trump is reportedly considering trying again to condition the funding on such cooperation.

Meanwhile, at his own news conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams struck a more conciliatory tone, saying he'd cooperate with the incoming Trump administration to maintain federal funding but also promised to shield immigrants, abortion-seekers and others who could be in jeopardy under a Trump presidency. He offered few specifics and dodged questions seeking particulars.

"I intended to defend and fight for our city’s values as part of the process," Adams said. "No matter who is president, or what party controls Congress, this city will always stand up for the rights of women, our immigrant brothers and sisters, our LGBTQ+ communities and millions of others."

Trump has assailed American cities as "cesspools" and "hellholes" and has threatened to cut funding. In the most recent budget, federal aid to the city totaled billions of dollars, including for welfare, education, policing and more.

Pressed repeatedly Wednesday, Adams’ commissioner of immigrant affairs, Manny Castro, did not provide specifics on how the city planned to carry out its promise to shield from deportation immigrants who are in the nation illegally. Castro said he's most concerned with worsening "the anxiety and fear that people are experiencing."

He did say he hoped to convince the incoming Trump administration that the plan isn’t a good idea, and "how this is resource-heavy, putting people in camps, rounding up in mass deportation ... and hopefully change their mind about this."

Castro was more blunt when answering in Spanish: "This will continue to be a sanctuary city and that we will be protecting their information and will not be following the instructions of the federal government in cases of mass deportations."

And Adams said the city would continue to welcome those seeking an abortion, regardless of where they live or restrictions elsewhere.

"That includes women outside of this city who come here seeking the care they’re denied in other places," Adams said.

In the run-up to Trump's election, Adams, who has been indicted on corruption charges, declined to criticize Trump or the deportation plan, calling it hypothetical. 

At a rally in late October at Madison Square Garden, Trump suggested that Adams was charged with corruption because he criticized President Joe Biden's handling of the migrant crisis, which has brought over 220,000 foreign migrants to the city since spring 2022.

"I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the DOJ for speaking out against open borders," Trump said. "We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric."