Nassau County Govt Bruce Blakeman fired at state and native Democrats over Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to explode the county’s cooperation cope with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
That laws, unveiled by Hochul Friday and praised by her fellow native Dems, would basically shred Nassau’s present partnership with ICE — one thing Republican Blakeman warned might backfire.
“Hochul’s try to finish that cooperation received’t make ICE disappear — it can put extra federal brokers on our streets, working with out native partnership or oversight, all whereas setting harmful criminals free,” he advised The Publish.
“Cooperation with ICE has allowed Nassau County to focus on and take away violent offenders by coordinated, accountable regulation enforcement,” added Blakeman, who’s operating to unseat Hochul on this yr’s gubernatorial election.
Blakeman was certainly one of New York’s first native leaders to signal what is usually touted as probably the most complete and controversial “287(g) settlement” with ICE final yr.
Hochul, beneath the proposed Native Cops, Native Crimes Act, successfully desires to bar and remove all such agreements all through the state, by blocking native police departments from serving to the feds with civil immigration arrests and prohibiting ICE from utilizing county detention amenities.
The governor’s workplace shot again Wednesday that Blakeman’s claims had been unfounded and accused the Lengthy Island chief of fearmongering.
“There is no such thing as a proof to assist the declare that ending 287(g) agreements would set off a rise in ICE exercise,” Hochul spokesman Gordon Tepper advised The Publish.
“Greater than 50 New York counties don’t take part in these preparations, and nothing suggests public security suffers because of this.”
Tepper additionally stated that the governor was “not going to let Washington flip our native cops into ICE brokers” and declared that “public security means preventing crime, not terrorizing our communities.”
5 counties throughout the state, together with Nassau, at present have such agreements which can be susceptible to being voided beneath the proposed invoice.
Nassau County’s cope with ICE has been on the state’s radar because it was first inked in 2025.
The NYCLU filed swimsuit over the contract and the county has additionally confronted accusations of not correctly feeding ICE detainees and having “unhealthy smelling” ingesting and showering water in its amenities. It’s additionally confronted questions over the dying of detained migrant, Santos Banegas Reyes, in Nassau’s custody in September.
Hochul, when asserting the invoice final week, blasted ICE as a “rogue” and “tyrannical” company, and stated now was the time to behave — citing the lethal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, and claiming the invoice would hold native police centered on native crime, whereas nonetheless permitting cooperation with the feds to catch violent offenders.
“New Yorkers are feeling traumatized and surprised as they watch federal brokers perform unspeakable acts of violence in a rustic they not acknowledge — we’re known as to behave on this second of tyranny,” she stated.
The proposed regulation would additionally power ICE to acquire a warrant earlier than raiding “delicate” places like colleges, church buildings, workplaces, and houses.
