New York, New York - New York Governor Kathy Hochul has defended the city's deployment of the National Guard on the subway system and told commuters looking to opt out of the new bag check policies to "go home."

In an interview with Good Day New York on Thursday, Hochul discussed the strict new measures designed to "deter" crime on the city's subway.

Along with deploying 750 members of the National Guard to stations across the city, subway travelers will be subjected to "random" bag checks before boarding the train.

As for what options New Yorkers have if they don't want their belongings searched by military officers, Hochul said simply, "Then go home."

"We're not going to search you. You can say no, but you're not taking the subway," she said.

The governor added that the Guard members and New York Police Department officers will be stationed by the turnstiles, barring access to those who refuse the random search and, according to the governor, deterring fare evaders as well.

"So you want to look in the eye of a police officer or an MTA Transit Police or a National Guard and still jump the skip the fair. Go ahead."

Hochul said that the Guard and additional NYPD personnel will be centered around "main transit hubs" such as Grand Central Terminal.

She also confirmed plans to add cameras to "every single subway," arguing that their mere presence would be persuasive enough to prevent crime.

"If people know that they're being watched, that there's a camera that'll record if they harm someone, assault, bring out a gun, have a knife, they're going to get caught?" she said.

"I think that's going to have a powerful effect on the psychology of the criminals."

New York City Mayor Eric Adams similarly defended the controversial new policies, including his deployment of an additional 1,000 NYPD officers last month.

"When I'm on the subway system, and I speak with riders, they say, Eric, nothing makes us feel safer than seeing that officer at the token booth, walking through the system, walking through the trains," Adams told the media on Tuesday.