More than 1,600 people have been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across Long Island since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, according to published reports.
“That’s 1,600 criminals removed from our neighborhoods, I couldn’t be more delighted,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement.
It is unknown the nature of these 1,600 arrests and how many had prior criminal convictions.
Efforts to solicit comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were unavailing.
Immigrants on Long Island without a criminal record have been detained by ICE agents this year, according to Newsday. This includes Port Washington bagel store manager Fernando Mejia, of El Salvador, and Suffolk County Community College honor student Sara Lizeth Lopez Garcia, of Colombia.
Other arrests, though, have included criminal offenses. This includes a man arrested in Westbury last week who was wanted in Honduras for aggravated femicide, or killing based on the female gender, according to reports.
Violating immigration law, such as overstaying a visa, is a civil offense, not a criminal offense.
Blakeman previously said he could not confirm or deny whether individuals who have only committed a civil offense and not a criminal one were being held in the Nassau County jail because ICE does not share that information with the county.
Nassau County has a partnership with federal Homeland Security, which permits immigration detainees to be held for up to 72 hours in one of 50 designated cells at the county’s East Meadow jail. The two entered the agreement in February.
ICE detainees are not intended to be held at non-federal immigration detention facilities.
For every detainee, the federal government pays Nassau County $195 per night they are held.
Suffolk County had a similar agreement to Nassau, which ended after a $60 million lawsuit found the county violated state law and the Fourth Amendment for detaining hundreds of immigrants past their release dates at the request of ICE.
State Sen. Julia Salazar (party, district) and state Assembly Member Michaelle Solages (party, district) toured the East Meadow jail in July in an impromptu visit permitted under state law.
Salazar said they did not observe “egregious” conditions at the jail, but they spoke with individuals who had been held at the county facility for longer than the 72 hours that are permitted.
Blakeman previously said in response to this claim that he was not aware that detainees were being held for longer than 72 hours.
Nassau County also alerts federal agents to immigrants without legal status in their county jails and when they will be released, referred to as a detainer. This advanced notice alerts agents to be present outside the jailhouse to make an arrest as the immigrant leaves the facility. SO THIS MEANS THE IMMIGRANT IS ARRESTED AGAIN AFTER BEING RELEASED FROM A PREVIOUS ARREST?
About 635 detainers were issued in Nassau County this year through June, according to data from the research group Deportation Data Project.
The county’s agreement with Homeland Security also deputizes a selection of Nassau County police officers to act as federal agents and conduct immigration-related arrests. Police officers are also transferring individuals arrested for other offenses into ICE custody.
The New York Civil Liberties Union condemned the county’s actions in partnering with ICE, saying that permitting county officers to act as federal agents undermines public safety and fosters public distrust.
In June, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the county saying that its partnership with ICE violates state law prohibiting local law enforcement from conducting civil immigration arrests for ICE and violates rights against unreasonable search and seizure. They said this will lead to rampant racial profiling.
Blakeman called the lawsuit frivolous.
