Albany’s Possible Special Session and the Immigration Bill Stirring Debate

While most lawmakers in Albany have already packed up for the year, talk is growing that the New York State Legislature could reconvene before January for a special session. The reason isn’t the budget, or education, or even public safety. It’s immigration.

A bill sitting in the wings, Senate Bill S9613, has quietly become one of the most contentious proposals in recent memory. Some legislators want it addressed before the next full session begins in January, and immigrant-rights groups are pushing hard for it not to wait.

According to City Journal the NYPD doesn’t report crime by immigration status

The proposal would add a constitutional amendment designed to regulate how and when state officers, employees, and law enforcement can ask about or record someone’s immigration status. In plain terms, it would make New York a kind of sanctuary state, one where cooperation with federal immigration authorities would be restricted or at least standardized, instead of decided piecemeal from one agency or county to the next. The bill’s supporters say this would stop the patchwork of rules that currently leave immigrant families uncertain about whether their schools, hospitals, or local police might share personal information with federal agents.

A companion measure in the Assembly, called the Dignity for Immigrants in New York State Act (S01359), goes a step further. It would prohibit state and local authorities from detaining individuals based solely on federal immigration violations. Together, the two bills mark the boldest attempt in years to reshape New York’s approach to immigration enforcement.

There are the numbers:NYC estimates that 200,000 people have arrived in little more than two years, with 65,000 of them currently in city shelters. We’ve thus crammed well more than a decade’s worth of recent historical migration into two years.

The push comes at a time when national policy is in flux and state governments are taking a bigger role in deciding how much to cooperate with Washington. Advocates say that without clear protections, immigrant families, many of whom have lived and worked in New York for decades, avoid seeking health care, education, and justice out of fear of deportation. The proposed changes, they argue, are about rebuilding trust and making state institutions safe spaces again.

Opponents see it differently. They argue that such limits could weaken cooperation between local and federal authoNew Modulerities and make it harder to track fugitives or investigate crimes involving undocumented individuals. Law enforcement groups warn that it could tie the hands of police departments already struggling with staffing and morale. Critics also note that because S9613 is a constitutional amendment, it would need to pass in two consecutive sessions and then go to a public referendum meaning the fight could stretch for years.