CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. - Gov. Kathy Hochul tried to brush off criticism that Democrats' sanctuary and bail laws continue to allow migrants to victimize New Yorkers without recourse - including two repeat offenders arrested within the last week.

Hochul had little to say in the face of attacks from her Republican gubernatorial opponent Bruce Blakeman and battleground Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler, who called on her to reverse the anti-ICE sanctuary state law she signed earlier this year.

 Nothing in New York state law prevents cooperation with ICE,  Hochul insisted as she campaigned with Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pat Ryan in Dutchess County Tuesday.

 Our laws do not allow for criminals to have sanctuary and anything to the contrary is a mischaracterization of New York State law,  she told reporters after galavanting in an apple orchard with AOC.

3 Rep. Mike Lawler, speaking, and Bruce Blakeman, rear left, Republican candidate for NYS governor, participate in a press conference at the New Castle Courthouse in Chappaqua, New York, Tuesday, October 6. Robert Miller for NY Post

But Blakeman and Lawler held their own campaign event to respond to two recent cases in which convicted criminals in the US illegally were allowed back out on the streets - only to re-offend.

New York's lax bail laws, paired with state and local sanctuary policies, also allow judges to repeatedly let migrant suspects walk free, the GOP pols noted.

Juan Guillermo Guambana Ayora, for instance, was arrested on October 1 in Ossining for allegedly filming women undressing in a bathroom on at least three separate occasions over the last year.

Local sources and a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security said Guambana, 50, had previously been convicted of assault in Ossining in 2003.

Guambana made headlines years later, when he took refuge with his wife and daughter in the South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry in 2018, in an attempt to avoid being deported.

He was eventually nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 2020, and was caught trying to re-enter the US in May 20
#nypost   #crimewatchnewyork