AMNA NAWAZ: As President Donald Trump's cost-cutting agenda continues through the government, Democratic governors are now looking to recruit fired federal workers to their states.

The state of New York has launched a campaign for those impacted by DOGE cuts, including billboards in New York City's Moynihan Train Hall and in train and metro stations throughout Washington, D.C.

Joining me now to discuss that effort and the other ways that New York is pushing back against the Trump administration is New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Governor, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's start with that effort then to recruit some of those fired federal workers.

Have you had fired federal workers applying for those jobs, how many, and have you been able to hire any so far?

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: Oh, no, we certainly have.

In fact, a couple weeks ago, I did a roundtable inviting a number of recently fired federal employees from the New York City area to come.

And one of them was a father of four.

He had done four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He worked at the VA.

He was one week from ending his probation, and he was dismissed.

And he was so upset and distraught about it, and I gathered others who were just really still reeling from the -- like, the unexpectedness of it.

They never thought this would happen to them.

So I told them we would take care of these individuals.

I literally have almost 7,000 open jobs in state government.

We are not back to our pre-pandemic levels.

And we certainly have openings in law enforcement and education and social work, a lot of issues we want to take care of our citizens.

So I think it's a great opportunity.

I was literally meeting with President Trump in the White House last week.

I went to Union Station afterward and I saw our billboard that said, DOGE may say you're fired, but, New York, we say you're hired.

And it's been really successful.

And I will give you the real numbers once we know for sure.

But every -- a lot more have applied than we expected.

And I find that exciting.

AMNA NAWAZ: So tell me a little bit more about that meeting with President Trump last week, because you and the president have disagreed and clashed before, right?

You have accused him of federal overreach.

You have disagreed on his immigration approach.

But you said it's important to keep that dialogue open.

So where can you work with this president?

What did you agree on in that meeting?

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: One area where we should all be able to agree on his infrastructure, continuing important investments, many started under the Biden administration.

But I want to make sure that we look at an asset like Penn Station in New York City, which is really the welcome mat for millions of people who come through that station.

And it looks deplorable.

We're renovating certain parts of it, but I want to make it be a beautiful train hall, something that natural light comes in, that people come to there and feel that this is a really world-class experience.

So knowing that Donald Trump is a New Yorker, I appealed to his sense of understanding how important this asset is to our city and its identity.

And we agreed to work on this together.

AMNA NAWAZ: What about on tariffs?

Because we have seen publicly he has doubled down on the use of tariffs, particularly in Canada, which I know impacts your state quite a bit.

You said you have told him that the tariffs are devastating for upstate farm and factory workers.

Was he receptive to that?

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: You know, he does believe that it's short-term pain for long-term gain.

Just that the people who were expecting prices to go down on Inauguration Day are really in for a rude awakening.

Not only did they not go down as promised, but they're going up.

And if you look at the possible impacts of $2,000 to $3,000 more a year for a family, I mean, especially in places like Upstate New York, on the border with Quebec, and Western New York, where I'm from, on the border of Ontario, these are not -- this is not a foreign country to us.

This is a natural trading partner.

It's part of a larger, broader community.

So this really sends shockwaves to our state.

And I wanted him to know that a lot of these people supported him in many areas of Upstate New York, did support for him, and now -- support him in the election.

And now they're just wondering what happened.

AMNA NAWAZ: Governor, on the immigration front, we know New York City has been in this administration's crosshairs for a while.

You have said you are not going to allow ICE to come in and take people off the streets.

But the reports show that they have sort of already been doing that, to some extent.

We saw local New York reports show that, during one week in February, there were 100 people arrested.

Do you know how many people ICE has arrested and potentially deported from New York?

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: Well, I had a conversation with the president about this a couple of times.

And I said, I am aligned with your interest in removing dangerous criminals off the streets and sending them back to where they came from.

It's in my interest.

My number one priority is public safety.

And that particularly includes Venezuelan gang members who have been terrorizing parts of our city since their arrival.

So this is not a bad outcome to have them removed.

But there we -- we understand there's a difference.

And I explain this once again, saying, we're not separating families.

We're not going to allow that to happen.

AMNA NAWAZ: But, Governor, we know among the thousands of people already deported have been people who have no criminal record.

Do you know how many of those people have been from New York?

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: No, I don't know how many, but I will say that we don't cooperate in those cases.

That's why I don't have information.

We will cooperate, my State Police will cooperate in a situation where you have a warrant or it's someone on a terrorism watch list, someone who's committed crimes in their own country or here.

That's a different category from where we will not cooperate when it comes to just saying, identify who these people are and we're going to take them.

We're not going to help with that.

AMNA NAWAZ: I need to ask you too about the Democratic Party, because it's been a rough few weeks.

You have seen the leader of your party in the Senate under fire from fellow Democrats, including your fellow New Yorkers, Hakeem Jeffries and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for choosing to avoid a government shutdown and back a Republican funding bill.

In your view, was that the right choice?

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: I know that Senator Schumer has New York state's best interest at heart, because he's also not just the major leader for the Senate, but also our state.

He has delivered time and time again for New Yorkers.

There can be disputes within our party.

This is not unusual in a family to have disagreements on a strategy.

But also, at the end of the day, he and Hakeem Jeffries put out a statement together, working together to fight the Medicaid cuts.

We cannot afford these cuts.

So, already, there's like a unity that's restored.

And, again, going down the road, there will be more disagreements.

That's OK.

But the bottom line is, who brought us to this place?

Never forget it was the Republicans.

And every day that we're hitting each other is another day that Republicans are getting away with what they're doing.

I'm going to continue to remind everybody, let's stand together as often as we can, as loudly as we can against what the Republicans are trying to do to undermine not just our democracy, but our basic sense of security here, the chaos of the stock market, what you're doing with tariffs, what you're doing making lives more expensive here.

We have to stand up and call that out.

AMNA NAWAZ: Governor, there's clearly a divide within your party, though, on this one issue.

Was it the right choice for Senator Schumer to vote for that bill?

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: Listen, I'm focused on New York state here.

I spent time in Congress.

I would answer questions on federal issues when it came to that.

He made a decision that he thought was best, not to have the shutdown.

Others disagree with that.

I'm focused on making sure that New York can get through this tumultuous time, whatever happens, and agree that a shutdown would have been difficult for our state.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is New York Governor Kathy Hochul joining us tonight.

Governor Hochul, good to see you again.

Thank you again for making the time.

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL: Thank you.