Community members gathered to proudly celebrate “Hispanic Heritage Month” while raising their voices to demand an end to the ICE agency’s anti-immigration raids in neighborhoods on Long Island, New York.
In this demonstration held on Saturday, October 11, in the Hempstead bus terminal parking lot (corner of Jackson St. and Main St.), attendees demanded the departure of ICE from Nassau County where the persecution and arrests of Latino immigrants, undocumented immigrants and even people with legal status have increased.
«In the immigrant communities of Long Island, ICE agents roam the streets committing blatant racial discrimination and arresting brown people. In Hempstead, Westbury, Port Washington and many other areas of Long Island, this has become commonplace,” protest organizers note.
«At the Home Depot in Hempstead, for example, day laborers have been rounded up and arrested simply for looking Latino. Santos Banegas Reyes, who was arrested on September 17 in a Hempstead supermarket, died in the Nassau County Jail 24 hours after his arrest, and there are still no official answers about the reasons for his arrest or his death,” they claim.
In addition, they warn that “Nassau is voluntarily allocating county resources to support the persecution of immigrant communities. And workers, business owners, students and families in Nassau are suffering the consequences, while elected officials fail to take action to protect us. “They cynically pretend to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month while supporting kidnapping and racial discrimination,” they maintain in a statement sent to our editorial team.
It should be noted that in this situation, community members participated in a “true celebration of Hispanic Heritage, demanding an end to the persecution of Latino workers and families.”
They also demanded that Nassau County must cancel its 287(g) agreements, which are partnerships between the federal government and local law enforcement that allow the latter to perform certain federal immigration functions under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Protesters carrying various signs also shouted “No more raids, ICE off Long Island now!”, “Stop racial discrimination,” “Funds for our communities, not deportations,” and “We demand justice for Santos Banegas Reyes.” Free them all!
This peaceful pro-immigrant protest in Hempstead, which occurs in the middle of “Hispanic Heritage Month,” was sponsored by the National Day Labor Network (NDLON); the Workplace Project Committee for Immigrant and Worker Rights; the Long Island Immigrant Justice Alliance (LIIJA); Long Island Democratic Socialists of America (LIDSA), the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL); the Long Island Progressive Coalition (LIPC), Nassau Working Families Party (WFP), New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and more community advocacy organizations.
“We remain united chanting #ICEOUT of Long Island, #iceoutofourcommunities… Grateful for those who raise their voices and speak for those who have been torn from our side… #justiciaparasantos… We continue saying #ICEOUTofLongIsland,” the Workplace Project expressed themselves through a publication on their social networks where they showed photos of the demonstration.
«Long Islanders came out to Hempstead to oppose the ICE presence that terrorizes our communities. We will not stand by while our taxes fund the kidnapping of our immigrant brothers and sisters. What we need now more than ever is to stay united against state repression and continue our efforts to organize for a just government led by the people,” indicated representatives of the Party for Socialism and Liberation on Long Island, on their LI PSL account (@psllongisland).
“ICE outside of Nassau County, we gather peacefully, with strength, with love and affection to continue demanding ICE outside of our communities,” they stressed from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and highlighted their firm position with the sharing hashtags #ICEOutOfLongIsland, #iceout and #SoloElPuebloSalvaAlPueblo.
