After listening to our president’s divisive State of the Union address on Feb. 24, we were heartened to hear our county executive’s address on Feb. 26, which was a call for unity.

“We are at a crossroads in this country,” said Daniel McCoy, a Democrat, in his State of the County address. “We live in a time of hyper-partisanship, anger, hate speech, and sadly, political violence … We have been fed the false narrative that it is us versus them.”

In memory of Martin Luther King Jr., McCoy implored his listeners to join him “in renewing our commitment to tolerance, acceptance, and respect for your fellow Americans.” He said, “There is always more that unites us than what divides us.”

McCoy went on to say that “unity does not mean we have to give up on policy debates and differing ideas on how government should operate.”

One of the reactions we received to McCoy’s speech came from Albany County legislator Mark Grimm,  Republican who represents part of Guilderland.

“We are surprised the County Executive called for ‘unity’ when the Legislature is poised to pass a resolution that prevents cooperation between local and federal law enforcement,” Grimm wrote. “That disunity is an impediment to public safety. We call on the County Executive to oppose this resolution and veto it, if necessary.”

The proposed legislation says, “The Albany County Legislature rejects the federal government’s false choice between effective law enforcement and protecting the safety, dignity, and civil rights of all people in our communities.”

The bill goes on, referencing the acts of Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers in Minneapolis recently, “Many ICE and Border Patrol agents involved in ‘Operation Metro Surge’ have displayed poor training, incompetence, lack of composure and professionalism, incivility to the members of the community, and have unjustifiably used violence, including deadly force.

“Under Resolution 55 for 2026, all agencies of Albany County, including law enforcement, will neither cooperate with nor facilitate any operations of ICE or Border Patrol in Albany County. Nothing in this resolution prevents any county department from continuing to comply with federal immigration laws. The Albany County Legislature supports proper, professional, and competent enforcement of all laws.”

The county legislation is scheduled to be sent to the floor for a vote on March 9.

We support this bill. We also support state legislation promoted by Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. Called the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, it would prohibit local law enforcement from being deputized by ICE for federal civil immigration enforcement. 

The legislation would also keep ICE agents from making arrests in sensitive areas like hospitals, day-care centers, courts, and schools. And further, Hochul said, it would protect constitutional rights.

“If someone alleges constitutional rights being violated by a state or a local officer, there are consequences,” said Hochul. “I don’t know why the federal government should exempt itself in the state of New York if those actions lead to that.”

On Feb. 9, Hochul held a roundtable talk about the proposal with over a dozen district attorneys, county sheriffs, police chiefs, and county executives from across New York, including Albany County’s sheriff and district attorney.

“There is no higher responsibility that any of us have than to keep the people in our jurisdictions of our state safe …,” said Hochul. “I’m seeing a diversion of that in some counties, where we are focused on local police solving local crimes, but there is a diversion that is going on now over this past year. It’s been one year where there’s been this intense effort to deport large numbers of individuals, basically based on a quota.”

The state and local police agencies have limited resources, while, Hochul said, “ICE certainly has a big enough budget — $85 billion up from $6 billion a few years ago.”

Just as Albany County’s bill says it supports “proper, professional, and competent enforcement of all laws,” including immigration laws, Hochul said, “I don’t support open borders. I don’t support individuals committing crimes in our state, whether they’ve newly arrived or they’ve lived here all their lives. And those who are committing crimes should not be here. They should be sent back after a process.”

The problem, though, is that, over the last year, 40 percent of the people arrested by ICE in New York state have no criminal record, do not have pending charges, and have not been convicted of crimes, Hochul said.

Guilderland’s police chief, Daniel McNally, told us his department is following the 18 pages of guidance that New York State Attorney General Letitia James put out in January, posted to her office’s website, which both describes the “legal landscape” governing local departments’ participation in immigration enforcement and also offers model language that can be used to enact local laws limiting participation.

“The Guilderland Police Department will follow the law. And what we’re looking for from the federal partners is a judicial warrant,” said McNally. “If that is produced, we will absolutely assist ICE with an arrest … Without that, if we have probable cause to make an arrest for any crime, like we do for any other citizen, we will do that. We will assist ICE as necessary. They’re a federal law-enforcement agency. When they’re doing their job legally and with authority, we’re going to assist them.”

Similarly, Hochul said, “If someone has a warrant signed by a judge, that’s the gold standard — that means someone else has looked at this as opposed to someone who may not have even had a lot of training, and certainly not training in conflict de-escalation by the way.”

The important point is that both the county and state proposals are not in any way curtailing proper enforcement of the law.

Rather, they are setting parameters for a federal agency that is violating laws.

Hochul said of the Department of Homeland Security, “This is an agency that started with good intentions back in 2003 after 9/11. The way it’s been weaponized against Americans in the last one year calls for those of us in our positions to stand and do what I can to protect the people living in this state.”

She described visiting a factory in Cato, in Cayuga County, after an ICE raid, calling it a “shocking display of raw power, bursting into a factory where about 152 people were working and separating people in the breakroom based on the color of their skin — white over here; Black and brown over here.”

The mother of two boys was taken in that raid, she said, and the boys now have “to go back to a country they don’t know at all.”

Hochul’s focus is to shift resources — both local and state — back to stopping local crime.

At the roundtable, Tony Jordan, the Republican district attorney for Washington County, said, “There is fear of coming forward. There is fear of seeking help.”

This current reign of fear, he said, hampers police in finding criminals and in stopping crimes.

Albany County’s Democratic sheriff, Craig Apple, said to the governor, “I will stand right with you to denounce what has been going on. This is a really sad time. And all the trust that we’ve worked so hard to build can be eroded very quickly.”

Apple concluded of the proposed state legislation, “Hopefully, this will stop that.”

Hochul responded to Apple that “trust” is a key word. “They have to trust law enforcement,” she said, stating that the public is conflating the tactics of ICE agents with local police.

“It’s so fragile and it seems like it’s gone now,” Hochul said, calling the destruction of trust “collateral damage” caused by the Trump administration.

Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber, a Democrat, in his Feb. 10 State of the Town address, contrasted Guilderland police with ICE agents who wear masks and no identification.

“We have a police force that is very proud to wear its badges and its identification …,” said Barber. “What we want is it’s encouraging people basically to recognize that our town police are not … immigration enforcement officers.”

Barber also celebrated the town’s diversity in his speech. “We have probably one of the most diverse communities in the state,” he said. “We have over 60 languages spoken in our schools.”

He projected a slide that showed 17.5 percent of households in Guilderland speak a language other than English.

“You can see it in our restaurants; you can see it in our establishments,” Barber said. “We’re trying to meet the needs of a growing and diverse community.”

In their speeches, Barber and McCoy portrayed newcomers as a strength, essential to both the economy and the community.

“We may come from different races, practice different religions, been born in different parts of the world,” said McCoy. “We may be from different political parties, but we all want much of the same things in life. We all want to make a living, put food on the table, to protect our family, and to find happiness and meaning.”

Throughout the roundtable talk, Hochul referred to serving — with funds and local police enforcement — “people living in New York.” She did not separate New Yorkers into categories of those born into citizenship as opposed to those seeking citizenship. She did not create a tension between “us” and “them.” She did not label newcomers as “aliens” or suggest they were “drug dealers, criminals, and rapists.”

In his State of the Union address, Donald Trump said to the legislators in the Capitol’s House Chamber, “So tonight I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens. Not illegal aliens.”

When several Democrats remained seated, perhaps mindful that federal agents had recently killed two American citizens in Minneapolis or perhaps unwilling to forego the American ideal that our nation has historically offered refuge to those in need, Trump said, “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The true shame lies in purposefully working to divide our nation.