More than 1600 people with criminal records have been arrested by agents of the Customs Immigration and Control Service (ICE) in Long Island since President Donald Trump assumed the position on January 20, according to published reports.
«There are 1600 criminals expelled from our neighborhoods; I am delighted, ”said Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Executive, in a statement.
The attempts to obtain comments from the ICE were unsuccessful.
While the report refers to immigrants with a criminal record, it is unknown how many more without a criminal record have been arrested, according to Newsday.
ICE agents have arrested immigrants in Long Island without criminal record this year. Among them are Fernando Mejía, manager of a Bars store in Port Washingtoncitizen of El Salvador, and Sara Lizeth López García, honor student at Suffolk County Community College, originally from Colombia.
However, other arrests have been linked to criminal crimes. This includes a man arrested in Westbury last week, who was wanted in Honduras by aggravated femicide, or murder based on the female gender, according to reports.
Violating the immigration law, such as remaining in the country longer than allowed by a visa, is a civil crime, not criminal.
Blakeman previously stated that he could not confirm or deny if the people who have only committed a civil and non -criminal crime were detained in the Nassau prison, since ICE does not share that information with the county.
Nassau County, in Long Island, maintains an alliance with the Federal National Security Department (DHS), which allows those arrested for immigration to remain held up to 72 hours in one of the 50 designated cells of the East Meadow prison. Both signed the agreement in February.
ICE detainees should not be held in non -federal immigrants detention centers.
More than 1400 people arrested by ICE in the metropolitan area of New York City have remained in the county jail between February and June.
For each detainee, the Federal Government pays Nassau County $ 195 per night of detention.
Suffolk County had an agreement similar to Nassau’s, which ended after a claim of 60 million dollars determined that the county violated state law and the fourth amendment by detaining hundreds of immigrants after their release date at ICE request.
State Senator Julia Salazar (Democrat by Bushwick) and state assemblyman Michaelle Solages (Democrat by Elmont) They toured the East Meadow prison in July in an impromptu visit allowed by state law.
Salazar said that they did not observe “atrocious” conditions in jail, but that they talked to people who had remained detained at the county facilities for more than the 72 hours allowed.
Blakeman previously responded to this statement that did not know that immigrants were detained for more than 72 hours.
Nassau County also alerts federal agents about the presence of immigrants without legal status in the prisons of their county and when they will be released, which is known as arrest warrant. This anticipated warning alerts agents to be present outside the jail to make an arrest when the immigrant leaves the facilities.
According to data from the Deportation Data Project Research Group, this year until June about 635 detention orders were issued in Nassau County.
The County Agreement with the National Security Department also Designates a selection of Nassau County Police agents to act as federal agents and make arrests related to immigration. Police agents are also transferring people arrested for other crimes to ICE custody.
The Union of Civil Freedoms of New York (ACLU) condemned the actions of the county when associated with the ICE, arguing that allowing Nassau agents to act as federal agents undermines public security and encourages citizen distrust.
In June, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the county, claiming that its association with ICE violates the state law that prohibits local order forces from making civil arrests for immigration for ICE and violates the right not to make irrarhrazonable records and seized. They affirmed that this will lead to generalized racial discrimination.
Blakeman described the demand for frivolous.
