Rensselaer County officials this week pointed to the arrest of a Guatemalan national charged with raping a 16-year-old girl as evidence against Gov. Kathy Hochul’s sanctuary policies, reigniting a dispute over the sheriff’s cooperation with federal immigration agents.
Troy police arrested Kovy Carrillo-Flores, 25, on October 19 after detectives investigating a rape allegation approached him on Fifth Avenue. Police said he fought with officers during the arrest, biting one detective and causing a wrist injury to another officer. Carrillo-Flores faces four counts of third-degree rape over alleged sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl, who under state law could not legally consent because of her age.
County Executive Steve McLaughlin and Sheriff Kyle Bourgault confirmed at a press conference that Carrillo-Flores is in the country illegally.
“This is just the latest example of how New York’s failed open border and sanctuary policies attract violent offenders who are here illegally,” McLaughlin said.
State Assemblyman Scott Bendett (R-107) joined the two officials in defending Rensselaer County’s continued participation in the federal 287(g) program, a voluntary partnership that allows local law enforcement to work with federal immigration agents, despite state efforts to end such arrangements.
“The state should stop attacking sheriffs and stop trying to dismantle our participation in the 287(g) program, which has been proven to be an effective way of determining who is in our county,” Bourgault said.
A Statewide Legal Fight
New York Attorney General Letitia James, backed by Hochul, has filed a lawsuit against the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office seeking to force it to end its 287(g) agreements and any cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Hochul has also offered technology upgrade grants to sheriffs statewide who comply with the state’s “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” a law she signed in May that requires local agencies to terminate such federal agreements.
McLaughlin has repeatedly said he will not comply. In a post on X referencing the state assembly’s passage of several measures restricting cooperation with ICE, he wrote that Rensselaer County “will once again ignore” the governor’s directives “just as we did with” former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“While you endanger New Yorkers, I will protect my residents,” McLaughlin wrote. “We WILL continue to work with ICE, and we will continue to participate in the 287(g) program to protect our people.”
As of this report, Hochul’s office had not commented on the Carrillo-Flores case.
