Islip Town officials decline to end ICE contract with shooting range, prompting an outcry
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can continue training at Islip’s shooting range after the town declined to terminate its contract with the agency at a fiery meeting Tuesday that ended in shouts of disapproval from the audience and one attendee being removed by police.
Islip has allowed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, to use its Freeman Avenue shooting range for training for at least two decades. More than two dozen other agencies, from Amtrak to the Secret Service, also use the town-owned facility.
ICE’s contract came under fire last month amid reports the agency has detained some immigrants who don’t have criminal records. It prompted outcry from local activists, as well as a protest of more than 100 people at Town Hall on Sunday demanding Islip nix the arrangement.
Democratic Islip Councilman Jorge Guadrón moved to officially bar ICE from the range on Tuesday. He argued the agency’s sweeps represent a “deliberate campaign of terror and intimidation, which instills fear, trauma and terror in the Hispanic community.” Roughly two dozen speakers showed up to support the motion.
The proposal died without a vote because no other town board member seconded the motion, ensuring ICE can continue to use Islip Town’s range. Audience members, many of whom are activists, erupted with shouts of “shame” at Islip's elected officials as they exited the dais.
The "audience was beyond upset to see the lack of human empathy,” Guadrón said. “I will continue to have conversations with my fellow council members. Hopefully, I can persuade them to consider discussing it and voting on it next time.”
Islip’s four other board members — three Republicans and one Conservative — either did not immediately respond to interview requests or declined to comment.
Attempts to reach ICE and the Department of Homeland Security weren’t immediately successful Tuesday.
In an earlier interview with Newsday, Republican Councilman Michael McElwee argued the contract was a matter of safety, not politics. He said ICE agents “are not using the site as a command post.”
“They are coming in [to] qualify for their pistols, doing the shooting and leaving,” said McElwee, whose district includes the range. “It has nothing to do with immigration enforcement.”
Joshua Chan, an activist with the immigration advocacy group Islip Forward, argued the opposite. Chan, 23, called Islip’s decision Tuesday “disgusting” after he was pulled out of the meeting by police for jumping up and shouting down the town board.
“They sit up there from a point of privilege never having to worry about their members being taken away, when we’re sitting here as part of their constituency and it’s happened to [our families],” he told Newsday. “It’s very unfortunate.”
Islip Town’s contract with ICE is set to expire next June. Guadrón said he plans to continue pushing for an early termination.
He told Newsday, “It is a long shot, but I’ll keep on trying.”
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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