NYCLU appeals ruling allowing Nassau-ICE partnership

The New York Civil Liberties Union is appealing a decision by a state Supreme Court justice that rejected claims Nassau County's agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was illegal.

The NYCLU said the partnership, led by County Executive Bruce Blakeman, violates state law and has prompted racial profiling. After suing Nassau County, its police department and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder last year, the group is now trying to reverse the ruling and get a court order declaring the partnership is illegal.

In February, State Supreme Court Justice Danielle Peterson determined Nassau's partnership was "rooted in public safety and operational efficiency."

Nassau police have transferred at least 144 people to ICE since the partnership began, according to data analyzed by Newsday that was obtained by the Deportation Data Project. Typically, the process looks like this: Nassau police arrest someone accused of a crime, bring them back to a precinct to fingerprint them, then call ICE — holding them until federal agents arrive.

“[The police] are engaging in rampant racial profiling," NYCLU attorney Ify Chikezie told Newsday. "More and more of our neighbors, family members, et cetera are being illegally held on behalf of ICE when they should be free to return to their families."

"We’ve heard reports of people who have been stopped, interrogated, even so far as arrested, who do have legal status to be in the country," she said.

Spokespeople for the Nassau County Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about NYCLU's appeal. Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Blakeman, accused the NYCLU in a statement of attempting to "make our communities less safe."

"I am confident we will win the appeal," Boyle said.

Ryder has vowed to call ICE on people arrested even for minor offenses, who — if not for the agreement — would otherwise be released on a ticket.

Federal agents were prohibited from picking up people in these low-level cases under former President Joe Biden, Ryder previously told Newsday.

"Holding people beyond the time at which they’re free to go and then handing them over to ICE is exactly the sort of practice that was deemed unlawful by the state appellate court," Chikezie said.

Suffolk County officials are still fighting a 2018 verdict that found former Sheriff Vincent DeMarco’s policy of holding immigrants on behalf of ICE illegal. A federal jury found Suffolk liable for $112 million.

In Nassau, many people transferred to ICE were accused of low-level offenses like theft, prostitution and drug possession, Newsday reported last year. Some offenses include a case from last November, where Nassau police arrested two people for allegedly stealing from a Target in Westbury. In another, they arrested a man accused of stealing a Rolex from a watch store in Great Neck. Last week, Nassau police picked up a suspected arsonist who was released without bail and handed him over to ICE.

Less than 5% of the thousands of immigrants jailed in Nassau had violent criminal convictions, Newsday recently found.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has advised police departments not to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement because it "remains unsettled" whether the agreements violate state law. Gov. Kathy Hochul is also trying to bar local police from partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a new bill.