Blakeman: Nassau to comply with ban on ICE partnerships

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Wednesday that he is complying with a new state law banning cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The announcement came one day after New York Attorney General Letitia James issued subpoenas to Nassau's police and sheriff's departments as the new law went into effect. Gov. Kathy Hochul also promised legal action against counties like Nassau who had not said they would comply.

Blakeman, who is running for governor against Hochul, has been one of the most vocal supporters of the ICE agreements in New York and has regularly blasted Hochul’s support of the new law.

"This is one of the saddest days of my life as County Executive...I know it's going to make it more dangerous here in Nassau County," Blakeman said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

"I am a law-and-order county executive," he said. "I believe in the rule of law...We don't get to pick and choose the laws that we have to enforce or abide by."

Nassau County had been one of two counties in the state that had refused to comply, along with Rensselaer County, near Albany.

Both the Nassau County police and sheriff's departments have agreements with ICE. The police department deputized 10 officers to assist ICE with its immigration enforcement efforts and rents space at the county jail to the federal agency.

The state Attorney General’s Office of Immigrant Trust issued subpoenas to the Nassau County sheriff and police departments on Tuesday, and Hochul promised legal consequences for agencies that refuse to wind down their agreements with ICE.

Several other law enforcement agencies across the state, including the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Department, also received subpoenas.

A group of 15 county sheriffs from across upstate New York filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the legality of the law. The sheriffs are represented by an attorney with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based group.

The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act prohibits state and local employees from questioning people solely for immigration purposes, unless they are required to by a federal judicial warrant, and prohibits government employees from letting ICE agents into schools and other sensitive locations without a judicial warrant.

It does not prevent local law enforcement from working with ICE on criminal matters.