ICE detainee dies in Nassau jail, officials confirm

A man arrested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement died in a Nassau jail on Thursday, Newsday has learned.

County officials on Friday declined to share details about the 42-year-old man’s death but said an investigation is underway.

This marks the first known death of an ICE detainee under Nassau custody, and it has triggered several investigations.

"There is an ongoing investigation, which will be thorough and transparent to determine the cause of death," Nassau County Sheriff Anthony LaRocco, whose agency runs the jail, wrote in a statement to Newsday. "Nassau County takes seriously its obligation to treat every prisoner humanely."

The state attorney general’s office is conducting a preliminary assessment of the death, according to a spokesperson for Attorney General Letitia James, as is required by law. The state Commission of Correction is also reviewing the death, as is required by law, according to a spokesperson.

Police arrived at the jail on Thursday around 6:30 a.m. to find the man “not breathing,” a spokesperson for the Nassau County Police Department wrote in a statement on Friday.

The man was “observed in his cell unresponsive,” and a police medic pronounced him dead.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman partnered with ICE in February, allocating 50 jail cells for the federal agency to hold people arrested across the region. The man, who officials have not identified, was one of many who have been held in the Nassau County Correctional Center since the partnership began.

ICE held more than 1,400 people in the East Meadow jail from February through June, Newsday previously reported. The federal government is reimbursing Nassau $195 per ICE detainee, per night, Blakeman has said.

ICE did not respond to questions about the man’s cause of death, whether federal agents were on site at the time or why the man was being held. Blakeman declined to comment, but referred Newsday to the sheriff's statement.

Nassau County Legis. Seth Koslow (D-Merrick), who is running against Blakeman for county executive in November, said Friday he is calling for a legislative hearing on the death “to ensure transparency, responsibility, and justice for all residents, including anyone in our jails.”

“A death in Nassau’s jail is a tragedy that demands answers,” he wrote in a statement.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), whose district includes the jail, also said she is calling for an investigation. 

"I am reaching out to the relevant federal, state and local officials and calling for a thorough, transparent investigation to understand how this occurred and what safety measures are utilized for detainees," she wrote in a statement. "Any death in a detention facility should cause significant concern."

Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, called on Nassau to end its partnership with ICE.

"No human being should die in immigration detention," he wrote in a statement. "The county had made a choice to jail this human being ... No municipal or county governments in New York should be using local resources to carry out the federal government’s mass deportation agenda."