The contestants for the New York governor’s race met on Tuesday night and battled over immigration and other topics, with GOP candidate Bruce Blakeman ripping Hochul for supporting criminal illegals and her refusal to arrest, convict, and hand illegals over to federal authorities.

With only three weeks remaining until Election Day, Blakeman and sitting Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul faced off during a live debate, the only one scheduled before voters go to the polls.

The Empire State has been on the forefront of the left-wing reply to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and as governor, Hochul has led the charge, spending billions for freebies for migrants, refusing to allow immigration officers to operate freely in the state, and releasing tens of thousands of dangerous criminals back onto the streets in order to avoid allowing ICE officers to take them into custody for deportation.

Hochul went after ICE during the debate and at one point declared that “ICE is out of control, it’s out of control in Nassau County,” where Blakeman is currently serving as county executive. Hochul cited the anecdote of an 11-year-old boy who cried because his father was detained in an ICE raid.

Blakeman, though, rejected the emotional appeal and pointed out that ICE has removed more than 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal convictions and has made the streets in his county safer. And he blasted Hochul for supporting a criminal with a long criminal record.

During the debate, Blakeman rejected Hochul’s characterization that ICE is “out of control” in Nassau County and noted that there have been no unrest or violence and no incidents at schools, hospitals, or churches as ICE went about their duties in his county. He also insisted that when local governments cooperate with ICE, it makes the community safer.

He added that the recent shooting in the Bronx, in which an illegal migrant gangbanger was grazed in the neck as he tried to use his car to run officers down, would not have happened if it weren’t for Hochul’s sanctuary state policies that shield illegal migrant criminals from ICE detainers.

Blakeman, though, had an emotional appeal of his own to return volley with Hochul. He cited the two women murdered in Nassau County by an illegal migrant, and confronted Hochul, saying, “What do you say to their families?”

Some of the most recent polling seems to show that Hochul is bleeding support among New York’s many Jewish voters.

A recent Siena Poll conducted as the campaign cycle winds down shows that only 56 percent of Jewish voters were looking to reelect Hochul to the governor’s mansion. As CNN noted, Jews are leaning towards Republicans at record rates this year, and the Jewish advantage for Democrats is at a low 13 points, compared to plus forty points in 2018 and forty-nine points in 2022.

In another segment off Tuesday’s debate, Blackman blasted Hochul for wasting billions on Illegals.

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