East Hampton Town forms Latino advisory committee as residents ICE fears grow

East Hampton Town will form a committee aimed at integrating its Latino residents during a time when many of those families are living in fear over the federal government's mass deportation plan.

Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, a Democrat beginning her second term in office, announced the initiative on Tuesday during her State of the Town address. The committee will aim to remove "barriers to access information, services and resources, elevate community concerns and provide guidance on policies and public safety practices so that town government better reflects and serves all our residents,” Burke-Gonzalez said.

“It will be a place where voices are heard, experiences are understood, concerns are shared and trust can grow,” she added. The committee will form sometime this year, she said.

East Hampton's Latino and immigrant families are “an integral part of our one community,” but many are “living in fear,” Burke-Gonzalez said. About 26% of the town's residents are Latino or Hispanic, and 21.5% are foreign-born, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

“The fear of being separated goes against the values we live by here: compassion, dignity and keeping families together,” Burke-Gonzalez said.

The supervisor's announcement comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity has increased during President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign. On the East End, ICE has been spotted detaining people in Hampton Bays, Westhampton, Greenport and Riverhead, according to OLA of Eastern Long Island, a nonprofit whose volunteers are tracking ICE activity. Those actions have sparked protests, including one in East Hampton last month.

OLA executive director Minerva Perez said the committee will be important in helping connect Spanish-speaking residents with government services they may not know how to access.

Patrick Derenze, a spokesman for East Hampton, said the town recently saw a decline in attendance at a health care resource fair, which officials attribute to the fear some Latino residents have of an ICE raid.

The committee is also key to increasing Latino residents’ civic engagement, Perez said.

“If people know more about what the town is responsible for and the ways that the town's decision-making impacts [Latinos] in very positive ways ... they might be more interested in stepping in to either assist or eventually becoming part of the town's fabric, either as an elected official or as an employee,” Perez said.

Derenze said there have been no reported ICE raids in East Hampton but added that ICE typically does not contact local police before an operation. Perez said there has been ICE activity in East Hampton, but it has been more “targeted” than the “random raids” the group has seen in other areas.

East Hampton formed a Latino advisory committee in 2016 under former Supervisor Larry Cantwell, but it became inactive. The town board last appointed members to the committee in 2017, according to town records.

Last year, Riverhead created a Hispanic Development, Empowerment and Education Committee with a similar goal of connecting its growing Latino and Hispanic communities to local government.

During her Tuesday address, Burke-Gonzalez said the town would continue to put money toward water quality, shoreline restoration, recreation, land and historic preservation, and affordable housing projects in 2026.

"As we move through 2026 together, my hope is that we continue to lean into what makes East Hampton special: a deep love of place, a respect for one another and a shared responsibility to care for this community we all call home,” she said. “If we do that, I'm confident in what lies ahead.”