Activists mount pressure on Nassau and Suffolk lawmakers to get ICE 'out of Long Island'

A small group of activists rallied outside the Nassau County Legislature on Thursday calling for an end to Nassau’s partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the latest move in a pressure campaign against immigration arrests and detentions on Long Island.

About a dozen advocates delivered petitions addressed to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Nassau's legislature and local congressional representatives.

"We are asking for ICE out of Nassau County and out of Long Island," said Osman Canales, an activist who monitors ICE activity across Long Island.

Another activist, Glenis Palacios, read from the petition: "We are not criminals. We are essential workers, taxpayers, caretakers and entrepreneurs. We call on you, County Executive Blakeman, to ... publicly reaffirm your commitment to protect peaceful immigrant families."

The rally on Thursday is part of a series of actions by immigrant advocates urging lawmakers to take a stand, whether in the legislative chambers or the streets. Those actions have included the daughter of a Port Washington bagel shop manager who was arrested by ICE pleading with elected officials.

"My dad was taken a month ago from the parking lot of his job. They weren’t even looking for him. They were looking for someone else ... I’m heartbroken," Fernanda Mejia told Nassau lawmakers during a legislature meeting last month.

Fernando Mejia, who helped run Schmear Bagel & Cafe, was arrested in the shop’s parking lot on June 12. His detention spotlights a question that has split local politicians on whether to support ICE arrests of Long Islanders without a criminal record.

Islip Forward, a nonprofit that tracks sightings of ICE agents across Long Island, said it has reported at least 97 such sightings since late January.

"You can call yourselves whatever you want, but your positions are pro-criminal," Blakeman told Newsday after the protest. He defended Nassau's agreement with ICE, saying it protects the whole region. 

A spokesperson for Nassau County Presiding Officer Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence) did not respond to an inquiry.

On Tuesday night at the Suffolk County Legislature's meeting, more than 30 people urged lawmakers to stand up for the immigrant community under threat from ICE raids.

Several speakers said lawmakers should publicly support state legislation introduced last month known as the Mandating End of Lawless Tactics (MELT) Act, which would prohibit federal agents from wearing masks and increase accountability.

Patrick Young, a special professor of law at Hofstra University, said the trauma extends beyond the person arrested by ICE.

"It's traumatic for the whole family and for the community where these are going on," he said.

Cheryl Keshner, a member of the Long Island Immigrant Justice Alliance, said the speakers were there to "demand information, action and accountability on behalf of the countless Long Islanders who have been forcibly disappeared by masked ICE thugs."

"We need you to condemn the violence and bullying," she told lawmakers.

Randy Wade, a Greenport resident, referenced Suffolk County Community College student Sara Lopez Garcia, who was arrested by ICE in May and deported to Colombia.

"This is just really sad for all of us," Wade said. "We all have neighbors who are good neighbors who are family people and hardworking."

Suffolk County Legis. Samuel González (D-Brentwood) also released a letter on Tuesday denouncing ICE raids in Suffolk.

He wrote: "We are witnessing one of the cruelest and most ruthless waves of persecution against immigrants in modern history."

Suffolk Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) said, “We’re not participating with ICE."

He said as a legislative body, lawmakers are only permitted to pass resolutions pertinent to county business. He said any legislator can make a statement related to ICE or other topics if they wish “but the body isn’t going to take a position.”

Of the speakers addressing the legislators, he said, “that's their right to voice their opinion.”