Fifteen New York Sheriffs, Represented by FAIR, Sue to Overturn the 287(g) Ban One Day After It Took Effect

Fifteen New York county sheriffs sued the state on August 26, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Albany Division, seeking to overturn the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act one day after it took effect. The plaintiffs are represented by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the restrictionist legal organization — the sheriffs are not litigating alone or on county funds alone, and the choice of counsel places a national advocacy group behind what presents as a local-control dispute. The complaint argues the ban on 287(g) agreements is unconstitutional because it interferes with local decision-making, forces the cancellation of a federal contract, and because 287(g) agreements are sanctioned by Congress — so, the sheriffs contend, no state executive may tell elected sheriffs they cannot participate. Alongside the complaint the plaintiffs filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, seeking to stop the state from voiding existing 287(g) agreements as of August 25 and from forcing termination of municipal agreements to house federal prisoners by November 25.

Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James responded that the suit is “nothing but a frivolous waste of taxpayer dollars,” noting that “the courts have already declined to block this law once, and we are confident they will do so again” — a prior ruling that is the most load-bearing fact for anyone reading the TRO motion’s prospects, and one that distinguishes this filing from a first-impression challenge. Among the plaintiff sheriffs is Cattaraugus County’s Eric Butler, who announced compliance with the August 25 termination deadline while simultaneously joining the suit to restore the partnership, and who stated the county would continue cooperating with ICE on criminal matters regardless of withdrawal. That posture — comply and sue, withdraw and keep cooperating — is the operative shape of the resistance, not refusal.

This is the third documented stage of a single sequence. Hochul signed the ICE-cooperation limits in May (2026-05-29–hochul-signs-ny-ice-cooperation-limits-287g-ban-mask-ban); the Attorney General ordered twelve jurisdictions to terminate by August 25, with Madison County’s sheriff publicly defying the order (2026-07-30–ny-ag-orders-287g-termination-madison-county-defies); the deadline arrived, James issued subpoenas to four counties that had not complied (2026-08-26–ny-ag-james-subpoenas-counties-defying-287g-termination-law), and fifteen sheriffs went to federal court the same week. The fight is sheriff-versus-state rather than community-versus-ICE, and it runs opposite to the compulsion direction documented in Tennessee, where state law mandated sheriff enrollment in 287(g) rather than barring it (2026-05-10–tennessee-hb2219-287g-sheriff-mandate-signed-law) — the same program, with state power pushing in opposite directions depending on which government holds it, against a federal backdrop of 287(g) expansion to more than 1,500 departments (2026-03-14–287g-agreements-expand-1547-departments) funded through a $2 billion deputization pipeline (2026-05-07–ice-287g-funding-pipeline-2-billion-local-police-deputization).