New York – Long Island outlet Newsday reported that ICE has detained 1,400 New Yorkers at East Meadow Jail over the last five months through an agreement with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. ICE, Blakeman, and Nassau County Police did not confirm to Newsday that they are complying with state law that requires local police to only detain people who have committed crimes. 

State Senator Julia Salazar, Chair of the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections, released the following statement: “I am outraged to hear that 1,400 people in Nassau County have had their lives completely ripped apart by ICE. ICE refused to confirm that any of these people have committed any crimes, because they know these are law abiding New Yorkers. As I saw firsthand at an immigration court in Manhattan, ICE routinely drags people away who are following the law. This campaign of terror is only ramping up thanks to Trump’s federal budget, and New York needs to respond in kind.  The bare minimum we as state lawmakers can do is pass Dignity Not Detention and New York for All, helping ensure that New York – including the local police – is not helping ICE detain and disappear our neighbors.” 

Read more below... 

Newsday: ICE held more than 1,400 people in East Meadow jail in last 5 months under agreement with Nassau 

Bahar Ostadan 

July 10, 2025 

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have held more than 1,400 people at an East Meadow jail so far this year under a partnership with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, data obtained by Newsday shows.”. . . 

“"No one wants a murderer roaming our streets, but ... the vast majority of people are not threats; they’re working-class immigrants being fast-tracked out of the country with no defense," said Ahmad Perez, founder and executive director of Islip Forward, a nonprofit that tracks ICE across Long Island through a phone alert system.”. . . 

“Blakeman has said Nassau’s ICE partnership is "not about raids," but targeting people accused of a crime. While entering the United States is considered a crime, living here afterward is a civil matter. While ICE officers can arrest and jail people for civil matters, state law bars local police from doing so.”  . . . 

“While announcing the program in February, Blakeman said the 50 East Meadow jail cells would be used to detain immigrants without documentation who were facing unrelated criminal charges. Asked on Wednesday whether he could confirm the people jailed in East Meadow this year faced criminal charges separate from their immigration status, Blakeman did not respond. Nassau County police did not respond. ICE also did not respond.”. . . 

“Last month, the New York Civil Liberties Union sued Nassau County, Nassau police and its commissioner, Patrick Ryder, alleging the county’s partnership with ICE violates state law. Blakeman has called the lawsuit "frivolous." 

"Nassau County should not be collaborating with ICE at all," Nadia Marin-Molina, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and longtime local immigrant advocate, told Newsday. 

"It creates distrust between the police and the immigrant community ... Now people think twice and three times before calling the police for anything, or talking with a police officer."