New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman clashed Tuesday in a televised debate that turned sharply contentious over an ICE-involved shooting in the Bronx, the state’s sanctuary policies, and President Donald Trump’s economic record.
The debate opened with questions about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has faced criticism in New York City after agents shot at a vehicle driven by Oscar Bergal, a 28-year-old Dominican national, during a targeted operation last week. The Department of Homeland Security said Bergal refused to comply with lawful orders. A 5-year-old boy inside the vehicle was not harmed.
Blakeman, a Republican, blamed Hochul’s immigration policies for the incident.
“Kathy Hochul appealed to ICE to let this criminal out. The question that New Yorkers have to ask is what was this guy doing in New York in the first place? It’s because Kathy Hochul has made us a sanctuary state,” Blakeman said.
He went further, describing Bergal as someone who entered the country illegally, had a prior conviction, pending drug charges and alleged gang ties. Blakeman said his county had a cooperative agreement with ICE that Hochul ended, and credited that cooperation with removing more than 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records from Nassau County — including people accused of rape, attempted murder, robbery, burglary, drug dealing, carjacking and gang activity — without raiding a school, hospital, daycare center or church.
“If you cooperate with federal law enforcement, it makes for a safer community. That’s what I did. Kathy Hochul is taking that ability away from us. That’s why things like this happen,” Blakeman said.
Hochul called his response a “non-answer” for failing to condemn the shooting.
“So he basically says in the state of New York, he’d be fine if ICE agents shoot into cars, shoot guns into vehicles, not knowing who’s inside and could have killed a 5-year-old child,” Hochul said. “ICE is out of control. It’s out of control in Nassau County.”
She noted that she oversees more than 500 policing agencies statewide, accounting for over half a million arrests a year, and argued that is not how law enforcement should operate.
Blakeman maintained the shooting “never would have happened” without what he called Hochul’s sanctuary policy, accusing her of inviting people into the state without regard to criminal history and then blocking local police from working with ICE in an “orderly way.”
Hochul pushed back forcefully on the sanctuary label.
“I have said, from the president on down, I said, New York is not a sanctuary for criminals, not a sanctuary for criminals. Full stop,” Hochul said.
Trump and the economy
The candidates also sparred over President Trump and economic conditions in the state. Hochul accused Blakeman of being an uncritical supporter of the president and blamed Trump for rising gasoline and energy prices and tariff-driven cost increases.
“He promised to cut energy costs. He promised to cut down grocery costs. And you know what? Everything has happened under your friend Donald Trump,” Hochul said. “If you bought groceries lately, my God, the people are suffering.”
Blakeman countered that Hochul focuses on Trump to avoid discussing her own record, which he described as marked by the nation’s highest taxes and utility rates 70% above the national average. He noted that his endorsements include Trump as well as Bonnie Lautenberg, widow of former Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, and actor Debra Messing.
“Alright you got two votes,” Hochul replied. “Good for you.”
