Riverhead residents press town for ICE response bill

Riverhead residents and immigration advocates are urging the town to consider legislation aimed at protecting public safety when federal immigration agents respond in Riverhead, but town officials say there are no plans to consider it.

More than a dozen people, many wearing black T-shirts bearing pro-immigrant sentiments, urged the board Tuesday evening to act on or discuss a bill backed by OLA of Eastern Long Island, a Latino advocacy nonprofit.

The bill sets procedures for how town governments and police departments respond to immigration enforcement activity, including by sharing incident reports publicly.

The new push comes amid reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings are up across Long Island and as other East End towns weigh policies to respond to those incidents.

In neighboring Southold, the town board is expected to finalize policies next week requiring police to respond to reported ICE incidents for peacekeeping efforts.

Minerva Perez, the executive director of OLA who pitched the bill to East End municipalities in February, said some officials have mischaracterized the legislation. She emphasized the bill isn’t intended to block ICE from working in Riverhead. 

"When there is a random ICE raid that comes to town ... we want to see more presence from law enforcement in a coordinated way," she said. The goal, she said during Tuesday's meeting, is "to make sure there isn’t a rise in panic and chaos and possible injury, which we’ve seen in the past in other areas.”

Brienne Ahearn, of Riverhead, was one of many speakers who described the impact of ICE arrests on local children, who may fear returning home from school or camp to find a parent or caregiver has been detained.

“The acute pain and overwhelming terror of that moment and this overarching situation and moment in our history is unfathomable,” Ahearn said Tuesday. “We need a local law that requires ICE to be transparent with and accountable to our institutions and local law enforcement.”

No plans to act

None of the town board members responded publicly at Tuesday’s meeting, though several said in post-meeting interviews that they did not plan to act on the measure and view the town’s role as limited.

“Riverhead Town police is not a part of those activities, and ICE doesn’t need to share anything with us. They’re not obligated to do that,” Councilman Ken Rothwell said in an interview.

While the town board has declined to take up the measure publicly, Supervisor Jerry Halpin said he met privately with Perez.

“I have read their legislation and I did let her know that I would not, at that time, be bringing it to a work session,” Halpin said in an interview Wednesday. “I believe our police department is doing an exceptional job keeping their finger on the pulse with it, and understanding what they can do to protect every citizen in our town.”

There have been eight confirmed ICE sightings in Riverhead since May, according to Islip Forward, a nonprofit that tracks enforcement activity on Long Island. There were 64 ICE arrests in Riverhead from March of last year through May, according to data published by the agency. Earlier Tuesday, investigators from the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office turned 36-year-old Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez over to immigration agents for driving despite having four prior felony drunken driving convictions.

Several people at Riverhead’s meeting said while they support ICE arresting those with criminal convictions, they were troubled by reports that some detained by immigration officers did not have violent records. In February, ICE arrested three immigrant men who have lived in the region for more than 20 years and did not have criminal records, advocates said.

Sallie Donnellan, of Baiting Hollow, said she supported ICE efforts in the past to combat gangs like MS-13. She said she saw firsthand the impact gang violence has had on her students in Brentwood.

“I liked ICE then, not so sure what I think now,” Donnellan said. “I’m seeing persons with just civil violations having their rights taken away.”

Donnellan suggested the board at least discuss the proposal or form a bipartisan task force to weigh its merits.

“Let’s have those tough conversations,” she said. “We can handle it.”

Newsday's Anastasia Valeeva contributed to this story.