Kathy Hochul watched Tim Walz block ICE and get buried under 3,000 federal agents.
Then she signed New York's sanctuary bill.
Now Tom Homan just launched his New York surge – and it started in Queens.
Hochul Built This Herself
Homan warned Hochul in June exactly what was coming.
"You're going to see more ICE agents than you've ever seen in New York City, and it's coming," he said on Fox & Friends.
That warning came after New York's Democrat-controlled legislature passed some of the most aggressive anti-ICE laws in the country.
Hochul signed legislation banning local jails from holding individuals on behalf of ICE.
She banned 287(g) agreements – the cooperation contracts that let county sheriffs work directly with federal immigration agents.
https://twitter.com/GovKathyHochul/status/2081399421275615417?s=20
She even banned ICE agents from wearing masks.
The political logic was obvious – look tough for the left, generate press conference moments, and let the cameras roll.
What she didn't count on was Homan following through.
"I'm keeping my promise," Homan said after the laws passed. "We're going to send more ICE agents to New York because you took away the efficiencies of safer arrests at county jails."
That's the part Democrats never want to explain to their voters.
Now federal agents have to find the same people on the street – at their doors, in their hallways, in their neighborhoods.
She made every single arrest harder, more visible, and more dangerous – for officers, for bystanders, and for the people being arrested.
She knew exactly what the tradeoff was when she signed those bills.
She signed them anyway.
New York City Mayor Making the Same Mistake
Zohran Mamdani – New York City's newly elected socialist mayor – announced the city "will not allow ICE or anyone else to sow fear in our communities."
He should call Tim Walz and ask how that worked out.
Homan ran Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis after Walz played the same game – obstruct federal enforcement, generate resistance theater, and dare the feds to respond.
https://twitter.com/OwenGregorian/status/2082083466213228705?s=20
The feds responded with 3,000 immigration agents.
Homan declared the mission complete only after more than 4,000 arrests and six weeks of federal presence that Walz couldn't stop.
"As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals," Homan said when the Minneapolis operation concluded.
Walz called it deep damage.
Homan called it success.
The New York operation started Monday in Queens and is expected to expand into additional boroughs.
Officers currently assigned to the New York field office are leading the effort, meaning this is just the opening move.
Homan said the operation could run for more than a month.
Hochul Handed Homan Exactly What He Needed
New York's sanctuary laws didn't protect anyone.
They gave Homan political cover for the biggest, most visible ICE operation in the city's history.
Homan didn't need to beg Congress for authorization or work around state politics.
Hochul handed him a clean public record – she signed the laws, she blocked the cooperation, she guaranteed that every arrest would happen on the street instead of behind a jail door.
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/2080794307401805964?s=20
Now those same arrests happen in full public view, with maximum visibility and zero ability for Democrats to claim they tried to keep things orderly.
Democrats designed sanctuary politics to make enforcement look frightening – the problem is they own the chaos that follows.
The chaos belongs to them.
Hochul watched Homan dismantle Walz's sanctuary strategy from start to finish, saw 4,000 arrests and six weeks of federal siege, and then signed New York's bill anyway.
She didn't stumble into this surge.
She built it.
Sources:
- Warner Todd Huston, "Trump Border Czar Tom Homan Announces the New York ICE Surge Has Begun," Breitbart, July 27, 2026.
- Staff, "ICE Surges Officers Into New York City in New Operation," NewsNation, July 27, 2026.
- Staff, "ICE Launches Long-Anticipated New York City Surge," Western Journal, July 28, 2026.
- Staff, "Hochul Signs Measures to Limit ICE Cooperation, Restrict Mask Use by ICE Agents," Spectrum News, May 29, 2026.
- Stephen Sorace, "Homan Announces Operation Metro Surge to Conclude in Minnesota," Fox News, February 12, 2026.
