15 hours ago Blakeman and Hochul clash over Trump, immigration and energy costs in debate The New York gubernatorial race heated up Tuesday when Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman clashed on the debate stage, with the two trading blows over President Donald Trump, a recent shooting involving ICE and inflation. City following the shooting of a 28-year-old Dominican citizen who, according to the Department of Homeland Security, refused to comply with lawful orders during a targeted operation in the Bronx. A 5-year-old boy inside Oscar Bergal’s vehicle was unharmed. “Kathy Hochul appealed to ICE to let this criminal out. The question New Yorkers have to ask themselves is, what was this guy doing in New York in the first place? It’s because Kathy Hochul has turned us into a sanctuary state,” said Blakeman, a Republican. “Think about it. This guy came into the country illegally. He’s been convicted of a crime. He has charges pending for trafficking drugs, poison for our children and he’s a gang member? Who is Kathy Hochul defending?” Blakeman continued. “I had a cooperation agreement with ICE until Kathy Hochul said we could no longer cooperate with ICE. We removed over 2,000 illegal immigrants from my county with criminal records ranging from rape, attempted murder, robbery, drug trafficking, car theft, gang activity. And that’s because we cooperate with ICE, and we don’t raid a school, a hospital, a daycare, or a church. Cooperating with federal authorities creates a safer community. That’s what I did. Kathy Hochul is taking that ability away from us. That’s why things like this happen.” Hochul called Blakeman’s response a “non-response,” because he “refused to condemn what ICE did.” “So he’s basically saying that in New York state, it would be fine if ICE agents shot at cars, shot at vehicles, not knowing who’s inside and they could have killed a 5-year-old child. — and it should also shock their conscience — to say, okay, this is how ICE is supposed to do it,” Hochul added. “I’ll tell you what. I oversee over 500 law enforcement agencies in New York State, making over half a million arrests each year. That’s not how you behave. ICE is out of control. It’s out of control in Nassau County.” Blakeman responded by saying it “never would have happened” if it weren’t for Hochul’s “sanctuary policy.” Local authorities are cooperating with ICE in an orderly manner, as we did in my county,” Blakeman added. “We didn’t have any incidents in my county because we were allowed to cooperate with local authorities. But you took that tool away from us. The reason that happened is because of you, Kathy Hochul, and your immigration policies, where you invite people to our state, give them everything for free, and don’t care if they’re criminals or not. That’s bad policy. This is an excerpt from an article by Greg Norman of Fox News.
