President Donald Trump delivers his speech during a working breakfast with governors in the State Dining Room at the White House on February 20, 2026 in Washington, DC (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump told governors Friday during a meeting at the White House that he has no plans to enhance federal immigration enforcement in states where it is not wanted.
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said during an afternoon news conference with several other governors that Trump was asked during the closed session what lessons he had learned from immigration crackdowns in Minnesota, where federal officials killed two U.S. citizens.
“The president said, ‘We only go where we’re wanted.’ And said, for example, ‘I’m not going to New York unless Kathy calls and says she wants me to come to New York,'” she said. “I saw this as a very positive outcome of this meeting. And I would like to hold him and the government to this statement.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, vice chairman of the National Governors Association, said Democratic governors have been able to express “how problematic” the immigration enforcement actions have been, especially after Republicans in Congress drastically increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection in their signed tax and spending cuts bill.
“We were really heartened to hear the president say that one of the things he learned from Minnesota was that he only wants to go to places where he’s welcome. So we were very happy to hear that,” he said. “I want to be clear that the type of recovery we have seen in Minnesota is not welcome in the state of Maryland until we have an accountable agency.”
Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry said during the press conference at the NGA’s winter conference that there have been “no issues” with federal immigration enforcement efforts in his state.
“Why? Because it was a fully integrated operation with local, state and federal partners working together,” he said. “We have not allowed people to violate our laws and obstruct law enforcement from carrying out their legal duties.”
Landry said Trump “made it very clear: If you don’t want our help, we’re not going to give you help.”
Collective bargaining decision interrupts meeting
Governors from across the country traveled to Washington, DC this week to attend their annual winter conference and meet with Trump at the White House. However, that meeting was postponed somewhat after the Supreme Court ruled on the tariffs.
Trump will host a black tie dinner for some of the governors this weekend, although he decided not to invite certain Democrats at the event, causing controversy in the run-up to the governor’s meeting.
Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, chairman of the National Governor’s Association, said during the afternoon news conference that the morning meeting with Trump included 12 Republican governors and 10 Democratic governors.
“It was a really productive meeting overall and a great demonstration of ‘Hey, this is how governors can come before the president and address issues that affect all of us,'” he said.
Moore said the White House meeting was “productive” and “an opportunity for us to share our thoughts, our perspectives and our ideas with the Cabinet secretaries and the agency heads, as well as with the president himself.”
“We had the opportunity to talk about the things that matter to the people of our states. We had the opportunity to talk to Cabinet secretaries about energy prices and how we need to have a single focus to bring energy prices down,” he said. “We had an opportunity to speak with the Secretary of Transportation about transportation issues. In the case of Maryland, it was the American Legion Bridge and the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”
Moore added that the meeting was an crucial opportunity to “speak truth to power” and show that bipartisanship still exists on certain issues.
Sewer spill, Gateway Tunnel
Moore said he didn’t bring up Trump and blame him a sewage accident That started with a drain into the Potomac River in the District of Columbia, opting instead to apply the meeting to focus on discussions with Cabinet secretaries on infrastructure, natural disaster relief and housing.
“I’m here to focus on helping the people of my state,” he said. “I will not spend a second talking about a petty attack by the President of the United States.”
Hochul said she appreciated the presence of the cabinet secretaries at the meeting and the fact that the governors were able to speak to them on various issues.
“I was able to talk today about the Gateway Tunnel and maintaining funding for the largest infrastructure project in America,” she said, referring to a project Construction of a up-to-date railroad between New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River. “We want to keep our offshore wind power running and not have to keep going to court to get it turned back on.”
North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said he was able to speak directly with Trump about the state’s ongoing recovery needs after Hurricane Helene.
“We need to rebuild homes. We need to rebuild roads and bridges. We need to rebuild businesses. And we can’t do that in North Carolina without the partnership of the federal government,” he said. “We have a request for $13.5 billion with the Office of Management and Budget and with Congress. And I asked the president and he said they would like to talk about it.”
“That’s why I was very encouraged by this administration’s renewed focus on helping Western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene.”
Landry said the Supreme Court decision on tariffsthat was released during the meeting “completely overshadowed what I thought was going to be a very productive meeting with the president.”
“It was unfortunate that the Supreme Court made a bad ruling at the time because I think we would have a great meeting,” he said.
Trump promised to maintain tariffs Among other authorities he believes he held during an afternoon press conference at the White House, where he also rebuked the six Supreme Court justices wrote “This (the International Economic Emergency Powers Act) does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.”
Hochul disputed the claim that the Supreme Court’s decision was incorrect.
“I think the Supreme Court, many of whom are appointed by the president, is committed to supporting the Constitution and doing the right thing,” she said. “That’s why we support this decision and hope that we can continue to find ways together to reduce costs and not do the opposite as we have seen with tariffs in our states.”
