East Hampton officials consider barring local police from cooperating with ICE immigration enforcement

East Hampton town and village are advancing legislation to bar police from cooperating with federal agencies on civil immigration enforcement — becoming the first East End municipalities to back the proposal.

The proposal would also require police departments to notify newly created task forces about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities if their officers were called to respond to a raid. 

The two municipalities are the first to support a "public safety and accountability” bill originally drafted by OLA of Eastern Long Island, a Latino advocacy nonprofit based in East Hampton, and former Assemb. Fred Thiele, an OLA board member. OLA has been lobbying East End municipalities that have police departments to adopt the proposal since early February.

“It's an important step in reassuring the public that our police department is doing the right thing,” East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen said in an interview. “The last thing we want is local police being involved in immigration ... because if people can't trust the local police to report crimes, then things are going to turn bad in the community.”

The East End, home to a large Latino immigrant population, has seen ICE raids as President Donald Trump’s administration ramped up deportation efforts last year. OLA officials have said ICE activities have left many Latinos anxious, sparking protests and rippling through the area’s farm economy, Newsday previously reported.

Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers said during a recent meeting that violence during immigration operations in Minnesota, where two people were killed in altercations with federal agents, “really set forth that, even though we’re a municipal government, we can take action and we must take action.”

ICE representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

Both proposals would ban Section 287(g) agreements between the Department of Homeland Security and local police departments. Those agreements allow ICE to partner with local law enforcement on certain immigration enforcement activities. Nassau County has deputized 10 Nassau police detectives as ICE agents and rented jail cells to ICE under such an agreement. A ban on those agreements is also being pushed by Democratic state lawmakers.

Village trustees will hold a hearing on their bill on Wednesday. The town board has scheduled a May 7 hearing on its bill.

Both proposals acknowledge the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration laws and do not prohibit local police from cooperating with federal officers in criminal matters or when presented with judicial warrants.

The proposals differ in several ways. The town bill allows police to request identification from federal agents conducting immigration enforcement.

Town Councilman David Lys said individuals should not fear people impersonating federal agents. “Asking for identity is very simple. Will we get it? I don’t know,” he said.

The village’s bill bans use of its Flock license plate reader cameras “for purposes of federal civil immigration enforcement.”

Both proposals require the creation of task forces to advise on immigration enforcement activities.

OLA representatives have met with other East End municipalities, but the town and village are the first to formally support the proposal. Southold Town has created a task force to review OLA’s proposal and other state legislation related to immigration.