Nassau County Government and gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman took a shot at Gov. Kathy Hochul throughout his State of the County handle Monday whereas touting his anti-crime and pro-ICE insurance policies.
Blakeman, a Trump ally set to face off in opposition to Hochul in November, boasted that Nassau is “not a sanctuary county” the place native legislation enforcement limits its cooperation with federal immigration authorities, whereas crowing about joint space operations with federal brokers that he mentioned helped take away hundreds of “prison” migrants from the streets.
He offered his administration’s hardline stance on immigration and public security because the mannequin he would undertake statewide if elected to interchange the Democratic Hochul as New York’s high pol.
“I’ve made it a precedence to make sure that taxpayer {dollars} usually are not used to assist migrant packages in Nassau, and I’ve repeatedly referred to as on Gov. Hochul to cancel over $6 billion in state taxpayer funds which were wasted on individuals who haven’t earned a factor,” Blakeman instructed the county legislature, referring to funding spent to supply housing, meals, education and different companies to migrants and their households.
He additionally highlighted the native drop in crime and hundreds of recent police hires within the county.
Blakeman detailed that Nassau’s main crime price fell by about 7% and that overdoses have dropped round 10%, based on knowledge from county police.
He mentioned cooperation with ICE has resulted within the elimination of greater than 2,000 undocumented migrants because the begin of final 12 months.
Blakeman claimed a lot of these migrants had been accused of crimes similar to tried homicide, rape, theft and human trafficking.
He insisted that the law-enforcement effort is narrowly centered on people accused of committing crimes — though knowledge from the feds revealed about 60% of ICE detainees in Nassau haven’t any prison document.
“As your county government, making certain the security of each resident is all the time my high precedence,” Blakeman mentioned in his speech.
Past immigration and public security, Blakeman defended the county’s ban on transgender athletes competing in ladies’ sports activities and praised efforts to protect Native American-themed faculty mascots in native communities similar to Massapequa and Wantagh.
“I’ve been a staunch ally within the struggle to maintain Massapequa the Chiefs and Wantagh the Warriors, resisting Albany’s efforts to erase our historical past,” he mentioned.
The exec additionally highlighted what he described because the county’s broader success fiscally, noting that his administration has not raised property taxes in 4 years, acquired a number of bond score upgrades and even eradicated deliberate tax hikes from the earlier admininstration.
“Our county continues to prosper economically as a consequence of our fiscally conservative choices,” Blakeman mentioned.
“Even [Democratic] State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli acknowledges that Nassau County is underneath no fiscal stress,” he added.
However Nassau Democrats blasted Blakeman’s handle as political theater and accused the county government of failing to ship on key guarantees whereas prioritizing his gubernatorial ambitions.
“Tonight, all of us heard a sophisticated speech with a variety of guarantees,” Nassau County Legislature Minority Chief Delia DeRiggi-Whitton mentioned in a rebuttal after the handle.
“Throughout Mr. Blakeman’s final marketing campaign, he promised that his solely focus was serving the individuals of Nassau County,” the foe mentioned.
:Actually the day after being re-elected, he started speaking about operating for governor,” DeRiggi-Whitton mentioned, including that Blakeman is “one of the partisan elected officers I’ve ever handled.”
DeRiggi-Whitton criticized Blakeman’s funds choices and claimed requests from the Democratic caucus to fulfill on key infrastructure points similar to growing old roads, sewers and parks have largely gone ignored due to partisanship.
Some Democratic-led districts have in the meantime struggled to obtain already authorized public-safety grants that she mentioned first responders are ready on.
“We’re all very proud that, underneath [Democratic previous] County Government Laura Curran, Nassau grew to become the most secure county in America — and we have to guarantee that it stays that approach for the long run,” DeRiggi-Whitton mentioned.
