Suffolk County, East Hampton on list of 'sanctuary jurisdictions' published by Trump administration

Suffolk County and East Hampton appeared on a Department of Homeland Security list, published this week, of hundreds of "sanctuary jurisdictions" from around the country that the Trump administration says are obstructing its immigration enforcement efforts.

It was not clear Friday if the list referred to East Hampton Town or Village and DHS did not respond to a request for clarification. The DHS webpage where the list was posted Thursday says the jurisdictions were designated based on "factors like compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions, and legal protections for illegal aliens." The page says that each jurisdiction listed will receive formal notification of its "noncompliance with Federal statutes."

Michael Martino, a Suffolk spokesman, said in an email that "Suffolk County has not been notified by DHS, but once again Suffolk County is not, nor will it be, a sanctuary county."

An East Hampton Town statement attributed to Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and the town police chief said that “The Town of East Hampton is not defying federal immigration law, and there is no question about our position. We are in compliance.” The statement said the police department has “no reason to believe" its policies are consistent with that of a sanctuary city. Generally, sanctuary cities are those that limit cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers in connection with detaining immigrants.

An East Hampton Village official said the municipality on the list was not the village.

In a release Thursday accompanying the list, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said "sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens ... We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law."

In an April 28 executive order, President Donald Trump directed the list to be created and charged federal department heads, along with the director of the Office of Management and Budget, with identifying federal funds now going to the jurisdictions that could be suspended or terminated. The order also directed the attorney general and Noem to "pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement to end these violations." Trump campaigned on a promise to carry out mass deportation of immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

Top Suffolk legislators said Friday they were puzzled by the county's inclusion on the list. "I don’t know what actions we could have taken or we didn’t take that would have gotten us on that list," said Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst). " . . . I don't see us ever being a sanctuary city," he added.

Legis. Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon), the minority leader, said he was troubled by the apparent lack of communication from the federal government. "I would hope that before the federal government puts out a list like this that they would describe what compliance means," he said.

The loss of federal funds threatened in the executive order would hamper county initiatives for water quality improvement, land preservation and law enforcement in areas like human trafficking and drug trafficking, he said.

In January a federal judge ruled that the county was liable for costs of up to $60 million for violating the constitutional rights of hundreds of immigrants held in county jail on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers between 2016 and 2018. Former Sheriff Vincent DeMarco honored ICE’s detainer requests, administrative forms that the agency uses requesting the inmates be held for 48 hours until they can be apprehended. The county has appealed.

Reasons for East Hampton's inclusion were unclear but in January, the town said in a statement that its police would not detain anyone by ICE request without a federal warrant signed by a judge, as required by state law. "There is no means for local law enforcement to determine anyone’s citizenship status, nor is the [police department] allowed to inquire as to their status," the statement read.

At least one other Long Island town, Riverhead, issued a similar statement this year. The town, which was not on the list released this week, in January issued a statement saying that its police would not arrest or investigate anyone based solely on their suspected immigration status, and a subsequent clarification explaining that the town "stands firmly behind the new immigration policies set forth by the Trump administration" and would not obstruct federal efforts to address immigration.

The list includes 27 counties and cities across New York State, including New York City, as well as the state itself. The governor's office did not immediately comment late Friday afternoon. 

Nassau County, which earlier this year entered into an agreement empowering 10 police detectives to work with federal authorities to arrest and help deport immigrants without legal status, does not appear on the list.

Irma Solis, Suffolk regional director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the list appeared to be part of an effort by the Trump administration to enlist more local support for agreements like the one Nassau entered, known as 287(g) agreements.

She said Suffolk County and East Hampton Town had passed no sanctuary legislation and did not appear to have violated any federal immigration laws.

"It’s the federal government who are in the wrong, trying to ... siphon public safety staff away from their jobs," she said.

Alexander Holtzman, assistant clinical professor of law at Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law and director of its Deportation Defense Clinic, said the list "appears to me to be an intimidation tactic" to commandeer local government. "New Yorkers who pay taxes in this state should have concerns about fronting the bill for a deportation proposal that under current law should only be done by the federal government, if at all."

Enlisting local law enforcement for that work would backfire, he said. "We, as a society, want victims of crime to be able to go to law enforcement for assistance. If they fear instead that local law enforcement will assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in having them deported, immigrant New Yorkers might fear going to the police. They won’t report crimes, they won’t be witnesses."

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.