Blow to undocumented immigrants of NYC: NYPD teams up with ICE to increase deportations

Police in New York will soon be given the power to ask citizens on the street about their migratory status in another wave of measures set to increase deportation numbers.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are set to team up with police in Nassau (New York State) in plans put in place by President Trump that will see said detectives given the same authority as federal immigration agents.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican and Trump ally, announced Tuesday that work to detain those who are in the country illegally will be increased in the first project of this scale in the country.

“I want to stress that this program is about illegal migrants who have committed crimes,” said Blakeman. “This isn’t about raids. This is targeted enforcement of our laws based here in the state of New York — people who have committed crimes here and have violated federal laws by being in the United States illegally.”

‘We will be detaining them in the jail... or they will simply deport illegal migrants’

“We are partnering with ICE to accomplish two things. Number one, we are going to cross-designate and embed Nassau County police detectives with ICE for the purposes of picking up targeted, illegal migrants who have committed crimes, and then we will be detaining them in the jail as part of a short-term detainment program, at which time then ICE will find either a permanent detainment facility or they will simply deport illegal migrants“, he added.

“This is something that is very, very important,” Blakeman added. “And the reason is, because of the state laws that we have here in New York state, we have criminals who can commit crime after crime after crime, and our judges don’t have the authority to make a determination whether those individuals are flight risks or a danger to the community.”

However, the New York City Liberties Union responded, saying that the partnership was “a dangerous decision that will undermine public safety and enable ICE’s cruelty.”

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“Most New York counties do not partner with ICE for a reason: When local law enforcement act like ICE agents, they take on ICE’s reputation and sow deep distrust within the community. Immigrants become scared to speak to local police and under-report crimes due to fear of deportation — making it harder for officers to do their jobs and making everyone less safe."

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