The Broome County Sheriff’s Office agreement with Immigration Customs and Enforcement was terminated on August 25.

The termination comes as a result of the “Local Cops, Local Crimes” Act, which was signed into New York state law last May and put an end to 287(g) agreements — contracts between local police departments and ICE — across the state. Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar held a press conference on Wednesday to discuss the termination of the agreement and the lawsuit filed by several sheriffs across the state against Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James.

“I, along with several fellow sheriffs across the state, strongly object to this unconstitutional statute and look forward to taking legal action in the coming days to challenge and ultimately overturn this egregious act of government overreach,” read the notice of termination sent by Akshar to the ICE field office in Buffalo.

The Broome County Sheriff’s Office signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE in March of 2025 to establish a Warrant Service Officer program, which permitted state and local law enforcement “to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail.”

During the press conference, Akshar discussed the timeline of events leading to the termination, including a July 24 letter from the New York State Attorney General’s Office requesting information about the status of the program. Akshar said that he did not respond to the inquiry due to the Attorney General’s lack of statutory authority over the matter.

On August 19, the Sheriff’s Office received a second letter from the Attorney General’s Office of Immigrant Trust, delivering an investigative demand about the termination of the Warrant Service Officer program. On August 20, Akshar sent a letter to the ICE field office in Buffalo to give notice of the termination of the agreement, saying that it was the new law, not him, responsible for the change.

“I responded to that inquiry from the 19th, I was very specific in that inquiry that I was not terminating the memorandum of agreement personally, as the signatory of that original agreement,” Akshar said. “However, by operation of law, the ‘Local Cops, Local Crimes’ law that was passed in Albany, that agreement was being terminated.”

In the August 20 letter, Akshar stated his “unwavering commitment” to public safety in Broome County despite the dissolution of the 287(g) agreement.

Akshar also said that he, along with several other sheriffs throughout the state, would be taking legal action against James and Hochul for the implementation and enforcement of the new law.

“This lawsuit really is about the associated independence and the constitutional authority that is granted to the office of the sheriff,” Akshar said. “This lawsuit is about the aggressive and gross overreach by state government, specifically, the defendants in this case, Governor Hochul and the Attorney General.”

The lawsuit, filed on August 25 by the Federation for American Immigration Reform on behalf of 15 sheriffs in New York state against Hochul and James, seeks a declaratory judgment that the new law is unconstitutional, a permanent injunction barring the enforcement of the law’s provisions and a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that preserves the “status quo” and prohibits further enforcement of these statutes pending a final judgment.

“I don’t answer to Kathy Hochul, I don’t answer to Leitia James, I answer to the great people of Broome County who have afforded me the opportunity to serve in this role,” Askhar said.

The Sheriff’s agreement with ICE has been heavily criticized. In October 2025, several community members gathered to voice opposition to Broome County’s 2026 budget, which increased funding to the Sheriff’s Office by 15 percent. Community members cited the Sheriff’s 287(g) agreement with ICE as the reason for their disagreement.

Guan Heng, a Chinese whistleblower and asylum seeker who allegedly documented human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party, was detained by ICE in the Broome County Jail in December 2025. His detention triggered a rally by community members and other organizers to protest ICE detentions at the jail.

In response to Guan’s detention, volunteers at Concerned Residents of Greater Binghamton and Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier created “Humans of ICE” to share the stories of immigrants detained by ICE at the Broome County Jail.

Christina Zawerucha ‘05, the project manager of Humans of ICE and lecturer and conversation pairs coordinator at Binghamton University’s English Language Institute, told Pipe Dream that the ‘Local Cops, Local Crimes’ Act has not done enough for ICE detainees.

“Unfortunately, there are huge holes in the ‘Local Cops, Local Crimes’ Act,” Zawerucha wrote in a statement. “There are still several people being held in the Broome County jail on immigration offenses. They are simply being held under other contracts, such as those with U.S. Marshals. Fred Akshar may be complying with the letter of the law, but certainly not the spirit of it.”

Akshar explained that due to the cancellation of Broome County’s 287(g) agreement, the County stands to lose $2.2 million now that the Jail will no longer be housing ICE detainees.

Akshar said that as the lawsuit moves forward, he expects that more sheriffs across the state will sign on as plaintiffs in their official capacity.

“What this lawsuit is truly about is ensuring that local decisions are made by local people, like sheriffs, elected by the people, and not some bureaucrat, some political class person sitting in an ivory tower in Albany,” Akshar said. “That’s what this is about.”