Voters have already started casting their early ballots for the 61st New York State Senate District special election.
As voting continues, many will be considering how candidates view the recent actions of federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. A recent national Siena Poll showed 63% of surveyed voters disapprove of how ICE is doing its job.
ICE has come under fire in the first few weeks of 2026 as two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal agents in Minnesota. In 2025, after the federal crackdown began, federal agents opened fire over a dozen times, according to The Trace.
BTPM NPR hosted both Democratic candidate Jeremy Zellner and Republican candidate Dan Gagliardo for separate interviews late last week on their race to fill the seat vacated by current Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan. The interviews took place before the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on January 24. Our interviews revealed that while both candidates have concerns with ICE, they have diverging views on if state and local police should cooperate with ICE.
"The worst thing that we could be doing is not speaking to one another and assuming that people are not allowed to work with them or help them. The dangerous precedents that are being sent set right now, and I don't believe that." Gagliardo told BTPM NPR's Emyle Watkins. "So we need to help our law enforcement. They need to be talking to one another. We need to be dignified and respectful of the people that we're talking to."
Gagliardo said the shooting death of Minnesota resident Renee Good "wasn't a good thing" and "we need to be cognizant of the fact that we need to look into that." While Gagliardo said he supports weeding out "bad apples," he says he does not agree with any assumptions that "all ICE agents are bad."
"The mistake that we have today is that by trying to prove that all ICE officers are bad is the problem, because that's it doesn't even make sense. But what does make sense is that if something is wrong, they need to be accountable for it," Gagliardo said.
Gagliardo added that he believes Mayor Ryan announcing he will sign an order for Buffalo Police to not work with ICE "is a mistake." He says as a senator, he would push for police and ICE to figure out how to work together and be more transparent.
"For me, as a Senator, I'm going to make sure that they are speaking to one another, they're being transparent about what they're doing and where they're going," Gagliardo said. "I think that's another issue. We got to be transparent about: what are we after here?"
Gov. Hochul has spoken of restricting state involvement in ICE operations, and state lawmakers are considering legislation that would give residents a new avenue to sue federal agents who violate their constitutional rights. Jeremy Zellner, Democratic candidate for State Senate, supports that.
"I support the legislation to not have the state police or the local police cooperate with ICE. Certainly, we want to see anyone who's dangerous taken off the street, but not at the expense of everyone else," Zellner told BTPM NPR's Michael Mroziak.
He also points his finger directly to the Trump administration for the tensions raised by ICE tactics.
"When folks say, 'Well, geez, you keep attacking Donald Trump.' Well, Donald Trump is the reason we have this mess," Zellner said. "Donald Trump is the reason we have unqualified people who have been recruited to be ICE agents, who are not trained properly, out on the street doing things that we were told they weren't going to do."
Zellner told BTPM he applauds Mayor Ryan for his decision not to work with ICE.
Since the death of Pretti, Gagliardo has posted to Facebook but not commented on the killing. Zellner has also posted, but in regards to the shooting, he reposted a statement from former President Barack Obama, adding "Amen Mr. President."
Early voting is now underway through Sunday – the special election for the 61st State Senate seat is Tuesday, February 3.
