IS NEW YORK GOV. KATHY HOCHUL LETTING TRUMP'S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPY ON NYers?
A NETWORK OF SUREVILLANCE CAMERAS IS BEING BUILT ALONG NEW YORK'S BORDER WITH CANADA. ARE THEY GOV. KATHY HOCHUL'S, PRES. DONALD TRUMP'S OR DO THEY BELONG TO BOTH?
License plate reading surveillance cameras along State Route 11 in Malone, New York, Sept. 15, 2026. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
MALONE, NEW YORK Sept. 18, 2026
EXCLUSIVE PART 2 OF A SERIES
A network of more than a 100 Motorola automatic license plate reading surveillance cameras has mysteriously appeared in four counties along New York's northern border with Canada and a fifth northern county that does not share the border.
Who is putting them there? New York, the Federal government or both?
The network bears the hallmarks of a Federal Border Patrol surveillance system. But the long-time spokesman for the New York State Police told The Free Lance News the cameras are under "local" control—effectively denying the cameras are Federal.
We wanted to run down the facts with readers so they can make their own conclusions as to whether New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Pres. Donald Trump, or both, are spying on New Yorkers.
THE GROWING SURVEILLANCE NETWORK IN NORTHERN NEW YORK
The cameras have appeared on utility poles throughout Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence and, now, Jefferson counties. All four counties share a border with Canada.
Another Motorola ALPR is in Warren county, which is more than 100 miles from New York's border with Canada. That makes it beyond the 100 mile distance the US Border Patrol claims special, warrantless enforcement powers.
The cameras themselves are manufactured by Motorola. That's an important fact because the Electronic Freedom Foundation says Motorola's ALPRs "likely" make it a federal system.
National Grid, the public utility on whose poles the vast majority of cameras are located, refuses to disclose who put the cameras on their poles.
WHAT ARE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SAYING?
US Customs and Border Protection is not denying the cameras belong to the Federal government. Gov. Hochul's criminal justice spokesperson did not respond to multiple inquiries from The Free Lance News as to who owns the cameras and what they're used for.
The State Police spokesman denied the cameras belonged to the State Police. He specifically told The Free Lance News the cameras are under "local" control. Local is a key word because it means the official effectively denied they are Federal cameras.
Local means county or town. But officials from three of the five counties denied the cameras belong to them. One of the counties declined to comment, and the fifth didn't respond at all. The towns also claim they know nothing about the cameras.
WHY DON'T YOU FILE A PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST?
We did. Back in July. State officials denied them or said they would get to them maybe next year, in 2027. Same with local officials in the five counties with the cameras.
New York's public records law is broken. It's called FOIL. It stands for Freedom of Information Law but it contains so many exceptions and conditions it's almost worthless. It gives officials too many loopholes to deny requests they want to deny.
The state legislature passed a law meant to fix some of its shortcomings in 2025, but Gov. Hochul vetoed the bill.
IS THERE ANY OTHER REPORTING ON THE CAMERAS?
Not in New York. However, the Associated Press reported last November that "the Border Patrol has built a surveillance system stretching into the country’s interior that can monitor ordinary Americans’ daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects."
The AP added that while the Federal government began building the surveillance network “about a decade ago to fight illegal border-related activities and the trafficking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past five years.”
The AP report was focused on America's southern border, not its northern one where the cameras in northern New York are.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom's state highway department granted permits to the Federal government to install the cameras on California highways, non-profit news website CalMatters reported in February.
A Motorola ALPR surveillance cameras hidden in a utility box on a lightpole in Franklin County, New York, Sept. 17, 2026. The Associated Press reports hidden ALPRs like this are a hallmark of Federal Border Patrol surveillance of America’s southern border. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
OUR CONCLUSIONS
If the State Police spokesman hadn't told us the cameras were "local," we would lean toward concluding that the cameras are Border Patrol surveillance cameras given the similarities between the camera network in Northern New York and the camera network exposed by the Associated Press along the southern border.
Both also began to grow at the end of Pres. Joe Biden’s term as president in 2021.
What makes it even more complicated is that the State Police asked the State Legislature for $8 million in 2025 to strengthen New York's Northern Border with "technology and equipment to support intelligence gathering, criminal investigations and interdiction, and enforcement of New York State laws."
That clearly includes surveillance cameras like the ALPRs in the network exposed by The Free Lance News on Thursday.
In a way, it doesn't really matter whether Pres. Donald Trump or Gov. Kathy Hochul put the spy camers up. That's because, even if the Federal government under Pres. Trump did put them there, it’s only because Gov. Hochul let them. As in California, the Federal government would have needed New York's permission.
Not only that, but our reporting shows New York has access to the information gathered by the cameras: allowing it to deny the cameras belong to it, while reaping the intelligence-gathering benefits.
This may shock New Yorkers used to Gov. Hochul's regular anti-Trump rhetoric. But if Gov. Newsom, California's "Democratic" governor, let the Feds spy on residents of his state, so too could Hochul.
Send tips or corrections to jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me