As the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants lacking legal status continues across some of the nation’s largest cities, local officials across upstate New York are watching closely.

“He’s off and running,” said Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin. “He’s doing what he said he was going to do, he’s doing what the people voted for, what they say they wanted.”

Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration a week ago, he's signed a flurry of executive orders. U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are making more arrests across the country – thousands in just a few days.

McLaughlin, an outspoken backer of the president, said the county is the only county in the Empire State voluntarily partnered with ICE via a 287(g) agreement.

“If someone is in our jail already, we’re going to run them through their federal database to see if they are in fact wanted by ICE,” McLaughlin explained. “I cannot believe we’re the only county with the backbone to do that.”

Across the Hudson River, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, a Democrat, said he's not surprised by what he’s seen thus far.

“Look, it’s trying to keep up with it all,” he said. “I don’t think this guy sleeps.”

McCoy said he’s been reflecting on a bipartisan trip to the southern border last year with county executives from across the country, all of whom left with a similar takeaway.

“Whatever way you feel about it, our border was wide open,” McCoy said. “It has been an invasion, and that’s what I saw down there.”

McCoy launched the Albany Regional Immigration Assistance Center eight years ago. He believes the process to enter the U.S. legally needs an overhaul.

“We were working with one person from Afghanistan. It was over 12 years before their case got heard so they could come here legally,” he recalled.

The county executive said he’s bothered by how political the issue has become.

“We need a common-sense approach,” he said. “I’m not saying one way or another what the president is doing right, wrong or indifferent, but we need to have better communication and not make it about politics.”

Law enforcement leaders are also monitoring how the directives are playing out.

“I don’t expect to see a big change here,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.

The sheriff said his office is not prohibited from working with ICE, but admitted there was a falling out between the two agencies several years ago. Apple said he was contacted a month or so ago about capacity at the county jail.

“I do have cells, but we don’t do detainers or anything like that,” he said. “I will only take somebody if they have an actual judge and magistrate signature on it, and that’s how we roll.”

All three men agreed that if a person is in the U.S. illegally and have committed a violent crime, they should be removed, which Trump has said is his mission.

“You come in here legally, we’re going to welcome you with open arms,” McLaughlin said. “You break into our country, that’s a whole different problem.”

Spectrum News 1 also contacted Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault. He was unavailable for an interview.