Nassau police's partnership with ICE upheld by judge, denying NYCLU challenge

A New York State Supreme Court justice rejected the New York Civil Liberties Union’s claim that the Nassau County Police Department's partnership with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency violates state law.

In a decision issued Tuesday, Justice Danielle Peterson stated the county had a "rational basis” to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through its 287(g) program, through which Nassau police detectives were deputized last year to perform immigration enforcement actions nearly a year ago. The NYCLU's claim that the arraignment "has been ‘devastating’ for ‘immigrant families in Nassau County and many lifelong county residents’ is completely unfounded,” Peterson added.

Peterson's finding came more than eight months after the NYCLU filed a suit in the form of an Article 78 proceeding against Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, the department and the county on behalf of the Central American Refugee Center, the Diocese of Long Island, Haitian American Family of Long Island and two county residents.

An Article 78 proceeding challenges actions by a local government.

The NYCLU will "keep fighting until Nassau police are no longer aiding and abetting Trump’s mass deportation agenda," Ify Chikezie, a staff attorney at the nonprofit, said in a Friday statement texted to Newsday via a spokesperson. 

“While this lower court order is disappointing, this order doesn’t change the fact that under New York State law, police officers do not have the authority to act like de facto ICE agents and terrorize immigrant communities,” Chikezie added. “We all know that this unlawful partnership between local Nassau police and ICE has nothing to do with safety, reason, or the rule of law — it’s about fear mongering and needlessly hurting immigrant communities.”

The suit argued the county's arrangement with ICE would lead to racial profiling, as officers could "stop, question, and arrest Nassau County residents — anywhere in the community — based solely on the officer’s 'belief' that they may be in the United States in violation of law,” Newsday previously reported.

The community organizations and residents who filed the suit alleged that the county’s partnership with the agency would deter residents "from leaving their homes and attending church services or otherwise create a chilling effect,” according to Peterson's summary of the suit. But the justice noted that the court previously determined that "allegations of a subjective ‘chill’ are not an adequate substitute for a claim of specific present objective harm or a threat of specific future harm.”

The county’s decision to partner with ICE is "rooted in public safety and operational efficiency,” as it will expedite the "transfer of arrestee prisoners lacking lawful immigration status into federal custody,” Peterson said.

In a statement texted to Newsday via a spokesperson, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said residents were "grateful” that Peterson recognized the arrangement as "valid and proper.”

"Over the last year, in cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement we have removed over 2,000 illegal migrants from our communities making every neighborhood safer and more secure,” Blakeman added in his statement.

Last year, Blakeman, a supporter of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy, began renting 50 Nassau County Correctional Center cells to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deputized 10 detectives for immigration efforts, Newsday has reported. Many of the more than 2,600 immigrants held at the correctional center's have no criminal record, according to county data.