Local community organizers, immigrant rights advocates and religious leaders from Long Island gathered in a designated “free speech” area in front of the Nassau County Police Intelligence and Training Center, where President Trump was expected to tour the facility alongside Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel.
As Trump arrived on Long Island to support Republican candidates — including Nassau executive and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman — the rally protested the administration’s policies on mass surveillance, wealth inequality, racial profiling and aggressive immigration enforcement; issues that many believe have disproportionately affected local working-class communities.
During this demonstration the following statements were made:
«We demand that local collaboration and complicity with ICE be put to an end. New York State passed a limited ban, but we must go further. The law still allows local police to collaborate informally with ICE, with these forces of violence and racism,” expressed participants in the August 14 protest in Garden City, NY.
“Local governments must end not only formal agreements, like Nassau County’s (287(g)) agreement, but also informal agreements, like what Suffolk County is doing.”
«So let’s send this message now. Let’s get this message out as far as possible and, on behalf of all the people who are not here with us but would like to be here today, we say: ICE out of New York! “said Nadia Marin-Molina, co-executive director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON).
For her part, Kiana Bierria-Anderson, Long Island director of New York Communities for Change, said: “Donald Trump and Bruce Blakeman are twin scars on the fabric of American democracy. Brothers in the movement to defraud the United States, they have stolen taxpayer money for personal gain, self-promotion and to benefit their benefactors.
“Bruce Blakeman has actively waged a campaign against the working-class residents of Nassau County—Black, Latino, trans, and immigrants—by implementing policies and regulations that, if fully analyzed, would make Nassau County the least safe place in the United States.”
«If there is any system that has proven to be extremely harmful to democracy and to Americans, it is their pursuit of unbridled, brazen and unregulated capitalist initiatives. At the core of their brotherhood and both administrations lies a belief in the supremacy of whiteness. They represent a danger to anyone who believes in the democratic experiment. “They are fascists and we must act against them much more firmly.”
Meanwhile, Hazel Leon, community advocate and organizer of Así Vamos NY, said: “Our immigrant communities on Long Island have witnessed not only the unjust death of Santos Banegas Reyes in the Nassau County Jail, but also the violent arrests of the “Long Island Three” (“Chelito” Ricardo Arévalo, “Romero” Kerin Saddy Rodríguez Ulloa and “Mia” Miriam Burga Méndez)—people with no criminal record. criminals—simply for recording the presence of ICE in our locations.
“Our rally in support of Long Island’s working class was organized to condemn the lack of accountability from both President Trump and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who have harmed our working neighbors. We demand justice for our affected families and communities, now!
Finally, Cheryl Keshner, community advocate and organizer with the Long Island Immigrant Alliance (LIIJA), stated, “Trump’s visit to Nassau is not so much about supporting law enforcement as promoting his racist and xenophobic rhetoric and policies, which, unfortunately, are supported by Nassau County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman.”
«We demonstrate to express our rejection of the hatred and violence perpetrated against our black, brown and immigrant neighbors. “We will continue to stand in solidarity with all those whose civil liberties are threatened by this corrupt administration.”
