We warned about these policies

The death of Sheridan Gorman is a tragedy that has shaken our community to its core.

An 18-year-old young woman, out with friends to see something as simple as the Northern Lights, never came home.

Her life was taken in an instant.

That reality demands more than grief. It demands honesty.

Over the past decade, Westchester County and New York State have adopted policies often described as “sanctuary” laws, limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, including ICE. These policies were put forward with the stated goal of building trust and protecting vulnerable individuals.

But in practice, they have also created barriers—barriers to communication, barriers to coordination, and barriers that can make it harder for law enforcement agencies to work together to prevent crime.

That shift has had real consequences. When cooperation with a federal agency becomes politically controversial, it inevitably affects how information is shared and how decisions are made.

And when that cooperation weakens, risk increases.

This is not a new concern.

In 2018, before these policies were put into place, Councilman Tom Diana and I introduced a resolution in Yorktown urging Westchester County to pause and fully reexamine the public safety implications of limiting cooperation between local and federal law enforcement.

We made a straightforward argument: that cooperation between agencies is essential to keeping people safe, and that restricting it could create gaps in enforcement.

That resolution was voted down, 3–2.

The opportunity to slow down, to ask hard questions, and to ensure we got this right was there — and it was rejected.

Today, in the wake of this tragedy, we need to be able to look into the mirror and examine the results.

These are not equal issues. One is a matter of debate. The other is permanent.

Sheridan Gorman was not part of a policy discussion. She was a young woman in our broader community, doing something ordinary, in a place where she should have been safe. That is what makes this so difficult — and why it cannot be ignored.

Public safety must remain the first responsibility of government. That means ensuring that when there are credible threats, or individuals who pose a danger, every level of law enforcement — local, county, state, and federal — has the ability to communicate, coordinate and act.

That includes working with ICE when appropriate and lawful.

This is not about targeting any group. It is about acknowledging that when policies restrict cooperation between agencies, there is risk—and when that risk is realized, the consequences are measured in lives, not theories.

We cannot undo what has happened. But we can take responsibility for what comes next.

That means revisiting these policies with a clear and honest focus on public safety. It means asking whether the balance that was struck still makes sense. And it means being willing to make changes where those policies fall short.

In 2018, we asked for that pause.

It did not happen.

Now, we owe it to Sheridan, to her family, and to every resident of our community to take that hard look — and to ensure that our policies reflect the primary responsibility of government: to keep people safe.

Ed Lachterman is the Yorktown Town Supervisor.