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U.S. Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen, both representing parts of Long Island, ended last week by backing more funding for the Department of Homeland Security. They started this week with strong rebukes against the arm of the Trump Administration.

Their changing stance is one clear sign of how the politics of immigration enforcement changed after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti as he filmed a protest in Minneapolis.

And it speaks to the angst New Yorkers have about what could happen if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency of DHS, brought a large-scale operation to the Empire State.

“I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,” said Suozzi. He and Gillen were two of just seven House Democrats to vote for more DHS funding. “I hear the anger from my constituents, and I take responsibility for that.”

Gillen, who said she supported the bill because it also contained FEMA funding, this week signed onto a resolution to impeach DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The secretary has defended the actions of the agents who shot Pretti.

Senate Democrats are now refusing to back the same funding bill, teeing up a possible government shutdown. And in Albany, the shooting has energized a push to let people sue federal agents and to forbid them from wearing masks while on duty.

“There'll be things that we as New Yorkers can do, we as New York can do, and we'll be trying to fast-track that in the wake of what's happening around the nation,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Tuesday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, included language in her proposed budget that would prevent civil immigration enforcement in schools, hospitals and houses of worship. She also wants to let people sue federal agents if they injure them or damage their property.

Republicans denounced Hochul’s proposals when they were announced. But even GOP support for President Donald Trump’s ongoing crackdown is wavering. U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from Rockland County, wrote in an op-ed essay this week that Pretti’s death was “preventable” and asked ICE to “reassess” its tactics.

Immigrant advocacy groups are calling for Hochul to back the New York for All Act, which would mostly prohibit state and local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE. Hochul hasn’t taken a position on the bill.

Christina Greer, a professor of political science at Fordham University, says the situation in Minnesota is putting Hochul under more pressure.

“I am curious as to how Hochul in a re-election year in a very purple state will deal with some of these hard conversations,” Greer said. “Hochul has to tread a very fine line.”

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