Deportation Confusion: East End Officials Send Mixed Signals Amid Trump’s Migrant Roundups

President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan has local elected officials and law enforcement walking a rhetorical tightrope as East End agencies try to balance cooperation with federal agencies and the immigrant community.

Suffolk County and Twin Forks town officials agree that they will follow New York State law requiring that they only detain an immigrant when federal authorities have a judicial warrant. Local officials simultaneously maintained that Suffolk is not a sanctuary county, yet the victims of a crime will not be asked their immigration status and urged witnesses to continue coming forward with information to help investigators. Reconciling the two ideas appeared trickiest in the Town of Riverhead, home to the largest immigrant population on the East End.

“While recent federal executive actions have directed greater or enhanced enforcement of certain federal immigration laws, those enforcement efforts remain federal agency functions,” Riverhead Town Supervisor Timothy Hubbard said in a statement on Jan. 24. Four days later, he issued a clarification, adding: “The Town of Riverhead stands firmly behind the new immigration policies set forth by the Trump administration. Immigration, however, remains a federal matter, handled by the appropriate federal agencies — not the Riverhead Police Department. In fact, neither immigration enforcement nor deportation proceedings are legally permissible functions of the Riverhead Police Department, unless there are criminal charges pending.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents acting on the president’s executive orders arrested more than 1,000 immigrants as of press time in the first week since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 as the president sought to keep his campaign promise to send undocumented immigrants to their native countries. Critics remain concerned that the crackdown will hurt local businesses that employ immigrants and separate family members. The U.S. Marshals, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons were also deployed in the roundup.

“Mobilizing these law enforcement officials will help fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to carry out mass deportations,” Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said. “For decades, efforts to find and apprehend illegal aliens have not been given proper resources. This is a major step in fixing that problem.”

Also this week, Hubbard renewed the town’s state of emergency aimed at blocking asylum seekers from being housed in Riverhead. But Riverhead Central School District officials took issue with the Trump administration’s change in policy to allow federal agents to arrest students on campus, reversing longstanding rules that made schools a safe haven.

“New York State guidance has reiterated that immigration enforcement actions cannot occur on school grounds without proper legal documentation,” Riverhead Central School District Board of Education President James Scudder and Interim Superintendent of Schools Cheryl Pedisich wrote in a letter to the community. “We will adhere to this guidance in the strictest sense, calling upon our legal counsel to affirm the validity of any supposed legal documentation brought to the district by any federal agency before we commit to compliance. To address the serious concerns raised by the new White House executive orders, the Riverhead School District is taking pre-emptive steps to support our students and their families.”

Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island — a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of Hispanic immigrants in the Hamptons and on the North Fork — had issued the warning in an open letter to the community on Dec. 2.

“I refuse to mince words when political shifts will upend the peaceful, local community we serve by stripping basic protections, isolating our most vulnerable families, and threatening immigrants and citizens alike with hate and fear-based policies that serve only to disrupt our vibrant and productive community,” she wrote. “In this era of extreme division, what we have witnessed and have learned is how important it is to be prepared for the unexpected — and how important it is to stand up for protection and justice.”

Services the group provides include legal assistance for immigrant families facing deportation, youth-related immigration services, advocacy for those who have worked for fair wages and are left unpaid, transportation and translation services, elder services in Spanish, mental health support, and support for crime victims. It also has held defensive workshops explaining how immigrants facing deportation can give their neighbor, or the only U.S. citizen they know, temporary custody of a child in the event of being detained without notice.

POLICE RESPONSE

New York State Attorney General Letitia James issued guidance to local law enforcement clarifying their role in response to the president’s executive orders.

“New York will not be bullied into breaking the law in order to fulfill a campaign promise,” she said in a statement. “We will not sit idly by and allow the Constitution to be undermined. In New York state, we have laws that protect immigrants and limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts. Those laws should continue to be followed by all New York law enforcement and officials.”

On the North Fork, local police said they have not changed their policy in response to the mass deportations.

“The Southold Town Police Department does not enforce federal immigration laws,” said Southold Town Police Department Chief Steven Grattan. “That remains a function of federal agencies. Consistent with our policy, absent a judicial warrant, arrestees will be released from custody following processing and arraignment. This policy has not changed with the new administration’s deportation plan.”

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael D. Sarlo emphasized that it wants to maintain the trust of the immigrant community and local police will not ask about anyone’s status.

“We hope to continue to collaborate with local advocacy groups to ensure this is clear, and we hope to maintain a level of trust with our community,” Sarlo said. “We also have a duty to cooperate with federal and state enforcement agents to ensure the safety and security of our community. ICE has made efforts in the past to seek out repeat offenders, violent offenders and those with warrants in our community and have safely and lawfully apprehended subjects here in East Hampton, and that will likely continue … We are in the process of attending meetings with local advocacy groups, clergy and school districts to clarify the role of local law enforcement, and continue to foster an open dialogue regarding community safety and law enforcement.”

Southampton Town Police Department Chief James Kiernan echoed that sentiment.

“On the outside chance that ICE or any federal agency calls us requesting we detain a person that is in our custody, we request that the agency supply us with a judicial warrant,” he said. “This is not a new process and I do not anticipate any changes. Our mission and focus is on protection and service for all people within our jurisdiction.  We do not inquire about immigration status when someone is in need or in our custody. We have developed strong community ties that I believe foster a profound sense of confidence in local policing here in Southampton Town and one that we value and do not take for granted.”

Shelter Island Town Supervisor Amber F. Brach-Williams said police in the East End’s least populous town abide by the same rules.

“Officers are prohibited from inquiring about the immigration status of victims, witnesses, potential witnesses, or individuals seeking police assistance,” she said. “In alignment with constitutional principles and the foundations of effective policing, it is crucial that community members feel safe approaching the police without fear of immigration-related inquiries. The department will not detain individuals for suspected civil violations of federal immigration laws or on the basis of a civil immigration warrant.”

COUNTY CONUNDRUM

The crackdown comes as Suffolk County is appealing a federal class action lawsuit verdict in which the county could have to pay more than $60 million for previously honoring ICE detainers for inmates who were unlawfully present in the United States.

In 2016, then-Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DiMarco directed that the county jail in Riverhead would honor ICE detainers accompanied by a Department of Homeland Security warrant of arrest, removal, or deportation and that inmates subject to the ICE detainers would be “held for up to 48 hours after the time the prisoner would otherwise be released,” county officials said. But two years later, a court decision determined that DiMarco — who Trump in 2020 made the top U.S. Marshal for Long Island — lacked the authority to detain the prisoners according to the ICE detainers, and the practice was discontinued. ICE was dismissed from the lawsuit, but on Jan. 2, Suffolk was held liable for honoring the ICE detainers.

For its part, the Suffolk County Police Department said it alerts federal authorities when an undocumented immigrant is charged, but also doesn’t want to scare off witnesses.

“The Suffolk County Police Department does not ask victims, witnesses or bystanders for their immigration status,” the department said in a statement. The department is responsible for alerting federal immigration officials, the prosecuting attorney and the judiciary when an undocumented person is arrested for a criminal offense.”

The tone from county leadership was blunt.

“Suffolk County is not, nor will it ever be, a sanctuary county,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said.