Nassau police transferred more than 5 dozen people to ICE this year, Newsday analysis finds

Nassau police handed at least 64 people, mostly accused of low-level offenses like theft, prostitution and drug possession, over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this year, according to data analyzed by Newsday. 

While the transfers make good on a promise by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman to support President Donald Trump's mass deportation plan, they have angered critics who say they violate the constitutional right to due process.

"I don’t think they should be turning over anyone to ICE who’s simply been accused of a crime," Patrick Young, an immigration law professor at Hofstra University, told Newsday. "Typically, we don’t consider someone guilty until they’ve had a chance to go through court. So these are folks who are not being given state due process, let alone federal due process."

Earlier this year, Nassau police began calling ICE to pick up immigrants accused of crimes ranging from petty theft and prostitution to attempted grand larceny, in some cases triggering swift deportations. The crackdown is part of Nassau's partnership with ICE, setting the county apart from Suffolk and the five boroughs, where cooperation with ICE is largely restricted. 

The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing Blakeman and Nassau over the partnership, and New York Attorney General Letitia James has advised police departments not to join the federal program.

Police will not raid schools or churches, Blakeman said to the public, but officers will call ICE on those accused of a crime separate from their immigration status.

"If you’re smart, you’ll get out of town," he said in August. "Because in Nassau County, you’re going to be prosecuted, you’re going to be incarcerated, or you’re going to be deported."

Charges of theft, prostitution

Of the 64 people Nassau police handed over to ICE in Newsday's database, 10 were women charged with prostitution, many accused of giving "illegal massages" at various spas. Three women were charged with "unauthorized practice of a profession" at spas where police said "illegal massages" were taking place. An additional 15 were accused of theft-related crimes, ranging from stealing merchandise at Marshalls to trying to scam elderly people out of tens of thousands of dollars.

In one case, a woman allegedly stole cleaning liquids from her job at a Valley Stream car wash. In another, a man from Pennsylvania was accused of shoplifting from a Target in Elmont. 

Four men were arrested for trying to collect money from victims who withdrew tens of thousands of dollars in cash after receiving fake notices on their computers that their bank accounts were compromised.

One woman at a convenience store in West Hempstead was accused of trying to sell marijuana. A man in Roosevelt was pulled over for not using his turn signal, then charged with misdemeanor drug possession. At least four men were arrested on the state's lowest-level drug possession charge.

Thirteen women were charged with prostitution-related crimes, many accused of giving "illegal massages" at spas in Hicksville, Albertson, Seaford and North Bellmore over a five-month-period. They were charged with prostitution, a crime that police and prosecutors historically stopped pursuing, instead going after sex traffickers. 

At least one of those women was taken to a federal detention site in Houston. Newsday could not confirm her current location, or whether she was deported, as her name was later scrubbed from ICE records. Others were taken to federal jails in Richwood, Louisiana; Natchez, Mississippi; and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania,  ICE records show.

At least 11 people Nassau police transferred to federal custody this year had a removal order from ICE, an administrative warrant issued after someone loses their immigration case, misses a court hearing or overstays their visa. Meanwhile, 25 did not. It is unclear whether the remaining 28 people had a warrant. 

Over the course of four days in August, during a sweeping wave of arrests capturing more than 40 people, including some alleged MS-13 gang members, Nassau police handed over 28 people to ICE.

Debate over police helping ICE 

Nassau is sandwiched by counties that do not formally work with ICE, in some cases following local laws that prohibit cooperation with the federal agency. In February, Nassau became the second county in New York after Rensselaer to join a federal partnership with ICE that dates back to 1996, called the 287(g) Program.

Meanwhile, in Suffolk, officials are on the hook for $112 million after a federal jury found they illegally held at least 650 immigrants between 2016 and 2018 longer than they should have. In New York City, local laws almost completely prohibit police and jail officials from helping ICE. 

When Nassau partnered with ICE, Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder vowed to call federal agents on people arrested for minor infractions who would otherwise be released with just a ticket.

Under former President Joe Biden, ICE was barred from picking up arrestees in such cases, he said.

But now, Ryder said many of those arrested "will now be removed from the country, instead of walking out of court today and disappearing into the streets."

Before Trump's second term, officials "would let the criminal case take its course," said George Terezakis, an immigration and criminal defense attorney in Mineola. "Now, they're picking them up without a conviction."

But as immigrants sit in faraway federal detention sites battling immigration cases, their criminal cases in Nassau often move forward, he said. When someone doesn't show up to court in Hempstead because they're in ICE custody, a Nassau judge could issue an arrest warrant. Newsday confirmed several instances of this.

"That complicates things if they ever want to come back to the United States," Terezakis added.

It is difficult to reenter the United States legally after being deported, often taking years or decades. 

Low-level cases trigger deportations

As authorities fast-track deportations for low-level offenders, they're keeping immigrants accused of more serious crimes on Long Island.

"Serious crimes committed in Nassau County will be prosecuted in Nassau County to ensure those who commit those serious crimes are punished," Blakeman previously wrote in a statement to Newsday.

"When Nassau County loses custody of a serious criminal, there is no guarantee that the deported individual will be prosecuted and punished," he said.

None of the immigrants transferred to ICE this year are accused of violent crimes. But police have arrested several undocumented immigrants for more serious crimes this year, including a 20-year-old man charged with killing his 2-month-old daughter and a Queens man charged with sex trafficking and promoting prostitution.

Young, the immigration law professor, called the two-tiered system a "discrepancy."

"Basically what they’re saying is, ‘We don’t really consider these to be serious criminals. They’re not a threat to our community. We just want them out because we’ve signed onto Donald Trump’s rapid deportation of aliens.'"

In some cases, people accused of low-level crimes in Nassau, detained thousands of miles from Long Island, are opting to self-deport.

"People just feel like there's no hope, because the system is not functioning in a fair way," Terezakis said. "They're just saying ... 'Go ahead, deport me. I just want my freedom. I want to get out.'"