Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Photo: Bloomberg

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo fired a shot across the bow at federal immigration authorities on Wednesday, threatening legal action to curtail aggressive tactics by agents that he says have infringed on immigrants' constitutional rights and for allegedly targeting immigrant advocates.

Cuomo also issued an amended executive order requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to have a warrant if they make an arrest in a state-owned facility.

The order does not apply to courthouses, where arrests by ICE agents have made headlines and have led in recent weeks to semiregular protest walkouts by public defenders.

In a letter to Thomas Homan, ICE's acting director, Cuomo said that the acts of ICE's agents working in the field in New York and regional leaders “reflect a readiness to sink to lawlessness.”

Of numerous examples of conduct by ICE agents that he says has infringed on constitutional rights, Cuomo, a Democrat who is seeking a third term in office this year and may face a primary challenge from his left by Cynthia Nixon, said he was concerned about the agency's apparent practice of targeting immigrant leaders who speak out publicly against ICE enforcement practices.

Cuomo did not name any specific advocates, but New York City immigrant advocate Ravi Ragbir, an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago who has been subject to removal because of a 17-year-old wire fraud conviction, became a cause celebre after he was arrested during a routine check-in with ICE.

In January, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered Ragbir's release, and he banded together with immigrant rights groups to file suit against ICE, alleging the agency targets advocates.

Ragbir has been under an order of removal since 2006, but has been granted four stays of removal in the years since.

In court papers filed in Ragbir's suit, the deputy field office director of ICE's New York field office denied that Ragbir's statements to the press or his presence at vigils outside of ICE's office at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan had any bearing on the agency's decision to remove Ragbir.