By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-09-11 10:21:08 | Updated at 2026-09-12 13:57:16
1 day ago
President Donald Trump tore into Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul over policies he said are returning dangerous offenders and criminal illegal aliens to the streets. Trump called Hochul a “nightmare for crime” while hammering the state’s cashless-bail system, what he described as weakened parole enforcement, and restrictions on cooperation with federal immigration authorities. He warned that New Yorkers are being forced to bear the consequences of policies that protect criminals instead of the public.
Trump delivered the remarks on August 14th at the Nassau County Police Academy in Garden City, where he promoted his administration’s crime agenda and endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, has made public safety and cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement central issues in his campaign against Hochul. Trump used the appearance to draw a sharp contrast between their approaches.
“Nowhere is the communist attack on American society more clear than here in New York State,” Trump said. “The radical-left governor, Kathy Hochul, has been very, very bad on crime, a nightmare for crime.” He turned to New York’s cashless-bail policies, tracing them back to former Governor Andrew Cuomo and describing them as the point when conditions began to deteriorate.
In footage posted by the White House Rapid Response account on social media, Trump said, “I love this place, but it gets harder to love. It really does.” He continued, “But if you think it really started with no-cash bail—remember that? That was a Cuomo beauty, right?”
Trump argued that the system repeatedly places dangerous offenders back in public after they’re arrested. “Just think of it, no cash. You kill somebody, you rob a store, you go right back out on the streets,” he said. “It is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.” Trump turned toward Blakeman and joked that the governor’s record should make the race easy for the Republican challenger.
“Bruce, how the hell can you lose to that?” Trump asked. “You’re going to be ashamed. If you lose, you’re going to be ashamed for the rest of your life.” He added that the contrast between the candidates was rooted in “common sense,” saying, “I guess I’m a conservative guy, but I’m a common-sense guy more than a conservative guy.”
Watch Trump unload on Hochul’s crime and sanctuary policies here:
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Trump accused Hochul of supporting the release of convicted murderers who killed New York City police officers and weakening the supervision of convicted felons. “These are absolute killers. And you’re not going to change them,” he said, and then continued, saying, “You got to get them the hell out, or you got to put them away. And if you don’t do that, you’re just wasting a lot of time.”
The president also blasted New York’s use of taxpayer money to provide legal representation for illegal aliens. “She spent millions and millions of dollars providing taxpayer-funded lawyers to illegal aliens,” he said. He added, “If you didn’t—if you weren’t an illegal alien, you didn’t get a lawyer. But if you were an illegal alien, you got lawyers, and they were very good.”
Trump closed the portion of his remarks by attacking Hochul’s support for sanctuary policies and a state law restricting local law-enforcement partnerships with ICE. “Less than three months ago, Kathy Hochul signed a deadly and seditious new law making New York a so-called sanctuary state,” he said. “So she took it from the city to the state, meaning Kathy Hochul wants to release migrant criminals from jail and set them loose on innocent New Yorkers all over.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.
