Croton standing firm in face of Trump administration immigration threats.

Mayor Pugh reaffirms a policy adopted by the village in 2017 of limited cooperation between Croton police and federal immigration authorities.

White House “Border Czar” Tom Homan/ Wikimedia Commons

Earlier today, the Department of Justice threatened to prosecute state or local officials who refused to enforce the Trump administration’s draconian new policies on immigration, which include mass deportations of undocumented people and severe new restrictions on asylum.

As we have reported, the village of Croton-on-Hudson has a written policy, adopted in 2017, that limits the degree of cooperation between the Croton Police Department and federal immigration authorities. As part of that policy, Croton police are not supposed to inquire about immigration status of anyone they have stopped or arrested, nor cooperate with immigration authorities unless criminal matters are involved.

We recently published a Guest Editorial calling upon the village to restate and recommit to this policy, and we understand that a process that could lead to this happening is underway. However, given today’s dramatic developments, we asked Mayor Brian Pugh to comment on the situation and update us on what the village was doing.

“Our longstanding policy of establishing a clear separation between federal immigration enforcement and policing by local law enforcement remains in effect,” Pugh told us, adding that he had defended the policy during a Board of Trustees meeting last February.

From the minutes of the February 28, 2024 meeting:

“Mayor Pugh stated that the Village never declared itself a Sanctuary Village, the Croton Police Department’s policy is not to inquire about a person’s immigration status unless it is important to a criminal investigation, and they are not authorized to detain anyone based on their immigration status.”

Pugh confirmed that village government was currently assessing whether anything more needed to be done at this time.

“We are in consultation with our attorney, as well as other partners including the IDEA Committee, [Police Advisory Committee] and Police Department, to determine whether an update to that policy is required. I cannot provide a precise timeline when any possible amendment might be made. In this new and unsettled area, we will all need to be nimble.”

While it seems more likely that the Trump administration will focus its mass deportation efforts on large cities like Chicago and New York City, it remains to be seen how smaller communities like ours might be affected. We will continue to follow developments closely.

Croton mayor Brian Pugh

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