IDC

Gripper said that, working with the IDC, Cuomo was able to sideline priorities for many New Yorkers, like investments in transit, public edcation, healthcare and housing, while simultaneously raiding the MTA budget and cutting funding for schools.

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, told Salon that Cuomo had nothing to do with the formation of the IDC.

Politico has, however, reported as far back as 2014 that, while the IDC was not the governor's idea, Cuomo and top aides made it "very clear they wanted the IDC to work with Republicans to run the Senate."

Susan Kang, a professor of political science at John Jay College who has written extensively on New York under Cuomo and the IDC, told Salon that this sort of maneuvering to prevent a Democratic-controlled legislature was typical of Cuomo during his time as governor.

Niluper was held in an IDC near the border, and then later in Bangkok, until with 170 other women and children, she was allowed in June 2015 to go to Turkey, which usually offers Uyghurs asylum.