During last week’s City Council Meeting (6/2/2025), Mayor Kyriacou acknowledged the list issued by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which targeted cities and counties including Beacon as a “sanctuary” that DHS felt were obstructing federal immigration laws during the 47th administration’s commitment to removing as many Brown people with varying immigration status’ as possible.

“While the city has yet to receive any formal communication by the federal government, we remain confident that the City is abiding any all applicable state and federal laws and judicial orders. Our City and our Police Department remain committed to protecting public safety and any statements to the contrary are presumably misleading and inaccurate.”

— Beacon's Mayor Lee Kyriacou

The list, posted by DHS on May 29th and removed 2 days later, according to reporting in the Highlands Current, included 15 counties and 12 cities in New York (out of 500 jurisdictions nation-wide on the list). MidHudson News reported that “according to the DHS, counties identifying as state sanctuary jurisdictions include Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester, but many of the counties strongly disagree. Municipalities with self-identification, according to DHS, include the cities of Beacon, Hudson, Kingston, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie, and the Village of New Paltz.”

According to the Highlands Current, DHS said that the areas mentioned are “deliberately and shamefully obstructing” federal immigration enforcement and protecting “dangerous criminal aliens.” DHS instructed that the areas “immediately review and revise their policies to align with federal immigration laws,” but told municipalities to “conduct their own evaluation.”

Also according to the article, the Trump administration is attempting to strong-arm support hyper-locally through its 287(g) agreements with local law enforcement agencies. “Those agreements allow agencies to assume some enforcement duties and greatly expand the capabilities of ICE,” reporter Leonard Sparks said.

Active 287(g) agreements in place between ICE and at least one jurisdiction in the states that are green. As of May 13, 2025.

Beacon’s Mayor Kyriacou’s Response To The DHS List

Mayor Kyriacou proclaimed during the meeting: “The Department of Homeland Security issued a list which has apparently been withdrawn, of cities, counties and states that are ‘deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws and endangering American citizens.’ Which list includes the City of Beacon. It is absolutely not the case that the City is deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws. While the City has yet to receive any formal communication by the federal government, we remain confident that the City is abiding any all applicable state and federal laws and judicial orders. Our City and our Police Department remain committed to protecting public safety and any statements to the contrary are presumably misleading and inaccurate.”

National Sheriffs’ Association Pressures Federal Government To Withdraw Letter

According to MidHudson News, the list was removed due to pressure from local officials including sheriffs. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has removed a list of ‘sanctuary’ states, cities and counties from its website following sharp criticism from sheriffs’ and elected officials throughout the U.S., including here in the in the Hudson Valley.”

The article continued: “The National Sheriffs’ Association had maintained that a list of “non-compliant” sheriffs could damage the relationship between the Trump administration and law enforcement.” The CEO of the National Sheriffs’ Association, Jonathan Thompson, was credited with impacting the withdraw in a memo written to sheriffs’ offices nation-wide:

According to MidHudson News, “The Department of Homeland Security removed its misguided and error-prone sanctuary State, Counties, and Cities list. This happened only after Tom Homan and senior-most White House staff weighed-in directing it be withdrawn until further notice. Suffice to say this is a good first step but more remains to be considered.”

Revisiting Beacon’s “Welcoming City” Resolution

In 2017, Beacon signed legislation declaring it a “Welcoming” city, and elected not to be identified as a “sanctuary” city due to the threat of federal funding being withdrawn should a municipality identify as such. The full resolution can be read here. At the time, this was a highly contested piece of local legislation, with many in the Beacon community divided and packing the City Council meetings to speak for or against.

The resolution that Beacon passed reinforced the laws that already existed, and added more guidelines. A few of those are listed below:

City employees and officials shall not:

(a) Stop, question, interrogate, investigate or arrest an individual based solely on (i) actual or suspected immigration or citizenship status, or (ii) a “civil immigration warrant,” administrative warrant, or an immigration detainer in the individual’s name, including those identified in the National Crime Information Center database;

(b) Inquire about the immigration status of an individual, including a crime victim, a witness, or a person who calls or approaches the police seeking assistance, unless necessary to investigate criminal activity by that individual; or

(c) Perform the functions of a federal immigration officer or otherwise engage in the enforcement of federal immigration law, whether pursuant to 8 U.S.C §1357(g) or any other law, regulation or policy.

2. Detainer Requests. City employees and officials shall decline to respond affirmatively to a “civil immigration detainer” or similar request, unless (a) the request is accompanied by a judicial warrant, or (b) the police chief has determined there is probable cause to believe that the individual either (i) has illegally re-entered the country after a previous removal and has been convicted of a New York Penal Law Class A felony or Class B violent felony (or of an equivalent federal crime or crime under the law of another state); or (ii) has or is engaged in terrorist activity.

3. Information Requests. Subject to the ability of supervisory police officials to exercise their sound judgment as necessary to protect public safety, all City employees and officials shall:

(a) Decline to respond affirmatively to requests from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) or Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) for non-public information about an individual unless the request is accompanied by a judicial warrant or has a legitimate law enforcement purpose exclusive of the enforcement of immigration laws; EXCEPT that nothing in this resolution shall restrict any City employee or official from complying with the requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1373 insofar as (i) sending to, or requesting or receiving from ICE information regarding an individual’s citizenship or immigration status, whether lawful or unlawful, (ii) maintaining such information, (iii) exchanging such information with any other federal, state or local government entity; or (iv) otherwise disclosing information about an individual’s criminal arrests or convictions, or juvenile arrests, delinquency or youthful offender adjudications, where disclosure is otherwise permitted by state law or required pursuant to subpoena or court order;

(b) Limit the information collected from individuals concerning immigration or citizenship status to that necessary to perform agency duties and shall prohibit the use or disclosure of such information in any manner that violates federal, state, or local law; and

(c) Inform the City Administrator of all requests received from ICE or CBP, who shall report on requests to the Mayor and City Council.

6. Local Resources. City employees and officials shall not use city funds, facilities, property, equipment, or personnel to investigate, enforce or otherwise assist any federal program requiring registration of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or national origin, including but not limited to ICE’s 287(g) program.