'Local Cops,' broad political battlefield
Federal agents, accompanied by their film crews, were seen detaining people from a construction van near Jay Street in Freeport on July 30. Credit: Islip Forward
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman says he is reluctantly complying with a state law voiding formal partnerships between the federal government and local governments on enforcing immigration laws — still a relevant issue as Election Day approaches.
“This is one of the saddest days of my life as county executive,” Blakeman said as he announced the news last week. “I know it’s going to make it more dangerous here in Nassau County.”
The claim, about the new Local Cops, Local Crime Act, is more than a bit melodramatic. Most immigrants held or arrested during Nassau County’s now-defunct partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with or without the help of local police — had no violent criminal record, and most had no convictions or pending charges.
Blakeman was pressured to make the decision last week because the legality of the county’s so-called 287(g) agreement with ICE, in which local police can be deputized for immigration arrests, won’t be resolved in court until after the election. His warning of more danger might be worrisome to Nassau voters who decisively reelected him last fall. But Suffolk County never signed a 287(g) pact with the Trump administration anyway, so the law won’t change any ICE operations there.
The state has 60 other counties, nine of which had 287(g) arrangements, covering a dozen law enforcement agencies. Running now against Gov. Kathy Hochul, who signed the Local Cops law, Blakeman seeks to expand his “law and order” profile.
Forcible ICE interventions have become highly unpopular in New York City. But in Rensselaer County, near Albany, County Executive Steve McLaughlin didn’t commit to compliance, as did Blakeman. Then again, McLaughlin isn’t the one who’s running for governor.
When Attorney General Letitia James sued McLaughlin last week, he replied, “See you in court.” There’s a personal backstory: James prosecuted McLaughlin on grand larceny and false-instrument charges in 2023 related to campaign funds, but a jury acquitted him.
Kyle Bourgault, who is McLaughlin’s county sheriff, is leading a coalition of at least 15 sheriffs in the federal lawsuit seeking to void the Local Cops act. Among them are Blakeman’s running mate for lieutenant governor, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, and Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino, who had been Blakeman’s first choice for LG before withdrawing in February.
Back in Nassau, Blakeman said he has directed acting Sheriff Robert Matarazzo to join the suit.
The issue is only one of several that have generated bitter tensions between the elected governments in New York and Washington, and are helping to shape the Hochul-Blakeman contest.
Other partisan disagreements over state policy concern data centers, climate change, taxes, affordability, education, lawlessness, social services, transportation, corruption and fiscal balance.
So far Blakeman, following a MAGA script, has effortlessly drawn a first dose of viral attention by mocking Hochul for exercising the standard courtesy of wearing a headscarf while visiting an Islamic religious center. Even Curtis Sliwa, a master of irreverent talk radio who ran as the Republican for New York City mayor last year, warns that this kind of stunt could hurt the party by alienating conservative Muslims.
“Leave the culture alone,” he advised in an Instagram video. “Leave the religion alone. Leave what garb you wear alone, and get back to the issues. That’s what the voters want you to do.”
Columnist Dan Janison’s opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
