This year, Nassau County is set to detain 3,000 undocumented immigrants, facilitated by a specific agreement with federal authorities that collaborates local law enforcement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, according to county officials.
The arrangement stipulates that ICE will lease up to 50 cells in the East Meadow detention facility for $195 per night, with county representatives indicating that thousands of migrants lacking legal status will have been detained by year’s end.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman stated in a Tuesday announcement that, “Every community, particularly the Hispanic American community in Nassau County, backs our cooperation with ICE to ensure their neighborhoods remain safe and their schools are not overcrowded.”
Blakeman unveiled the agreement earlier in the year, emphasizing that it not only creates additional jail capacity for undocumented immigrants but also includes a measure for 10 county police officers to receive training from federal agents, granting them expanded authority to detain migrants without warrants.
“Nassau County stands as the first county in the United States to have a fully comprehensive agreement with ICE under the 287(g) program, and will persist in collaboration with ICE to shield our county from unvetted undocumented immigrants who perpetrate crimes, such as endangering our youth with fentanyl,” Blakeman remarked previously.
The designated 10 detectives have completed their training with ICE, but county officials shared on Tuesday that they have yet to be asked for assistance in any ICE operations.
Nevertheless, county authorities announced in July that preliminary results from the joint initiative were promising, stating that 1,400 undocumented individuals had been detained at that time, with the current count rising to 2,188 detainees.
On average, 274 immigrants have been detained monthly, with June witnessing the highest activity, where 437 immigrants were apprehended, followed by 380 in April and 363 in August, according to the county.
Among those detained was Santos Banegas Reyes, a 42-year-old immigrant from Honduras who had faced deportation three times yet continued to enter the U.S. illegally, as reported by ICE.
Reyes passed away in Nassau County custody last month, with the federal agency suggesting his death resulted from “liver failure complicated by alcoholism.”
In other news, the New York Civil Liberties Union is initiating legal action against Nassau County and the county police department, asserting that their agreement with ICE contravenes state regulations that forbid local police from detaining individuals solely accused of civil immigration violations.
