Immigration, sanctuary policies take center stage in New York House race

All right. We have been talking all things election for weeks. We'll be ramping up our conversations about the midterms in the coming days as well as we take a look at some local races here and some local ballot questions that you will be seeing as well. But we also want to focus on the scope nationally with only more than two weeks away from the midterms, November 3rd, of course. So we're looking into what's driving people to the polls. And immigration seems to be that hot button topic in recent elections and in New York, New York State, Sheridan Gorman that Loyola student that was killed here and her family are really in the spotlight we want to go to Pete Gutteri he joins us now from New York with a look Pete how's it going hey hey Terrence well both candidates have different views on this uh basically Republican incumbent Mike Lawler he's It's been crystal clear he wants to get rid of these policies of sanctuary states nationwide. Now on the other side, Kate Connolly has been a little bit less clear. And again, as you said, this all stems from the death of Sheridan Gorman, who authorities say was killed by an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela. Now Sheridan Gorman was 18 years old, she's from the New York City suburbs, when she went away to college to Chicago. And what we know is that authorities say an illegal immigrant with previous convictions shot and killed her while she was walking in a park with friends. Back home in New York's 17th District, Representative Mike Lawler says sanctuary policies in places like Chicago and New York are to blame for Gorman's death. I stand with the Gorman family. Their beautiful 18-year-old daughter was murdered because of open borders, cashless bail and sanctuary city policies. We need to stop that. That's why we've secured the border and stopped the massive influx of illegal immigration. That's why cashless bail and sanctuary state policies in New York need to be eliminated. Kate Connolly's team declined our interview request and instead provided the following statement. It reads in part, individuals who have committed dangerous crimes need to be deported immediately and local state and federal law enforcement must work together to get violent criminals off the streets and to protect our communities. Now on Connolly's website, she claims to support ending deals that allow local police and immigration enforcement to work together, saying, quote, so that local police can focus on protecting their own communities. But earlier this year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation to ban similar agreements across the state. And even though the law does not prohibit all cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities, Lawler says the restrictions still go too far. This is about not cooperating when it comes to criminals, and she has prohibited local law enforcement from doing it. It's wrong. I'm fundamentally opposed to it. My opponent, Kate Conley, supports it. She supports Kathy Hochul's disastrous new law. She supports the release of these convicted criminal aliens back out onto the streets. The latest Fox News power rankings say that this district does lean Democrat. However, Mike Lawler is one of three Republicans to win his district when Kamala Harris won her district back in 2024. So right now, this is really up for grabs, Terrence. All right, Pete, thanks so much. Appreciate your live report.