Long Island officials are doubling down on their anti-sanctuary stance and pledging to help federal immigration authorities — in stark contrast to several other municipalities across the country.
Cops and elected officials pledged that Nassau and Suffolk counties aren’t and wouldn’t be sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, brushing off calls from activists pushing back on what they claim is overreach from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a massive crackdown on illegal immigration.
“They have a job to do, and we are going to support them the same way we support the DEA or the FBI chasing terrorists,” Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told The Post.
Police in both counties said they would only assist ICE when directly called upon — which has not happened so far — but said they wouldn’t hesitate to help, while vowing there would be no raids at schools, hospitals or churches.
President Trump has announced the national crackdown will target major cities and Democratic-controlled governments with sanctuary policies on the books. The comments come as activists have pushed back on the Trump administration’s hardline stance on illegal immigration, and launched a series of protests against the crackdown.
“We have spoken to ICE and they’re on board with us,” Ryder said. “We will not go into a house of worship, we will not go into a school, and we will not go into a hospital. We also do not ask the immigration status of any victim or any witness, we don’t do that, that’s our policy in Nassau County.”
“Long Island is not a sanctuary county and will not become one,” a Suffolk County spokesperson said.
Suffolk County officials said they’re following the same protocols — and standing by them, despite a $60 million court ruling earlier this year tied to their past work with ICE.
A judge ruled Suffolk violated state law and the Fourth Amendment by holding hundreds of immigrants past their release dates at ICE’s request between 2016 and 2018.
But Suffolk officials told The Post those suspected law breakers had been arrested on unrelated charges and were only identified as undocumented during routine booking. Many were held past their release dates because ICE failed to pick them up on time, they said.
Tensions over ICE enforcement hit home earlier this month when Brentwood resident Elzon Lemus, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, was briefly detained by ICE agents during a caught-on-video traffic stop in Westbury.
Thousands protested at various locations over the weekend, from police headquarters in Mineola to the Hamptons. Nassau County Legislator Debra Mulé said Long Island families are being terrorized by “indiscriminate ICE raids.”
“We all want safe communities, and no reasonable person would object to prosecuting and punishing those who endanger public safety — up to and including deportation after a case has been fully adjudicated — but that is not what is happening in Nassau County or our nation,” Mulé, a Democrat, said.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R) shot back that he was “disturbed” that some “would prefer to spend tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to prosecute and incarcerate illegal criminals who have an illegal immigration status when they can simply be removed from our county.”
Blakeman said Nassau will continue to work with federal, state and local partners in an effort to “keep all communities safe.”
But Lemus’ encounter — along with the $60 million legal fight in Suffolk, Nassau’s controversial program to eventually deputize 10 county detectives in partnership with ICE, and the wave of protests — has only deepened the divide over how far local governments should go in cooperating with ICE.
“They said they’re looking for criminals, but in reality, they’re the criminals,” Lemus told reporters.
The growing tension has also caught the attention of state officials, with Attorney General Letitia James now investigating probing Nassau’s agreement with federal immigration authorities.
“We’re just trying to do the right thing,” Ryder told The Post.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
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