Long Island voters narrowly oppose NYS ban on ICE agreements

ALBANY — Long Islanders are sharply divided along partisan lines over a state law that bans local law enforcement agencies from signing cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a Newsday/Siena University poll.

After Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, Nassau County in August ended its agreements with federal immigration officials. Days later, 15 upstate sheriffs filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the law. 

The poll found 51% of Long Islanders oppose the measure, while 45% support it. The remaining poll respondents said they didn’t know about the law.

Democratic and Republican voters express equally strong levels of support and opposition in their responses. For Democrats, 75% support the law, and 74% of Republicans oppose it.

"You look at the party breakdown on that, and you can’t be more mirror image," said Don Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute.

A majority of independent voters are against the law, with 57% opposing it and 38% supporting it.

That could present an opening on the issue for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican challenging Hochul in November, Levy said. Blakeman has argued the agreements, such as the one Nassau had, are a key public safety measure.

Hochul has said the federal government has the resources it needs to enforce immigration laws and she wants law enforcement agencies in the state to focus on crime in their communities.

"It is quite possibly an inroad for Blakeman on the Island," Levy said. He added that statewide, voters have expressed higher levels of support for the law than they have on Long Island.

The law’s support was consistent across Nassau and Suffolk counties, with 45% and 44% indicating their support, respectively. Fifty-seven percent of younger voters, between 18 and 34 years old, support the ban.

The Newsday poll was done in conjunction with the Siena Research Institute from Sept. 11-17 among 411 likely voters on Long Island. The margin of error was 5.7 percentage points, meaning answers may vary by that amount. 

Under Blakeman, Nassau County has embraced a cooperative role in civil immigration enforcement with ICE, with the county executive calling it the most comprehensive partnership in the country.

Both the Nassau County police and sheriff's departments had what are known as 287(g) agreements with ICE. Before the agreements ended, the police department deputized 10 officers to assist ICE with its immigration enforcement efforts and rented space at the county jail to the federal agency.

Blakeman said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference in Albany that the county still intends to join the federal lawsuit filed by the upstate sheriffs.

The law prohibits state and local employees from questioning people solely for immigration purposes, unless they are required to by a federal judicial warrant. It also prohibits government employees from letting ICE agents into schools and other sensitive locations without a judicial warrant.

It does not prevent local law enforcement from working with ICE on criminal matters.

Voters on both sides of the issue who responded to the poll indicated the ban on ICE cooperation could play a role in who they vote for in November.

Peter Scrivano, a 75-year-old Republican from Copiague, said he thought the law was an attempt to make ICE agents look like villains.

"I think it’s a drastic mistake on the part of the state and the part of Kathy Hochul," he said.

Scrivano said he believed the state and local law enforcement agencies should be working with ICE on public safety issues.

Lia Malone, 29, of North Babylon, said she wasn’t overly familiar with the law’s details but supported the idea behind it.

Malone, who works for a nonprofit that assists people struggling with mental health and addiction issues, said she follows an Instagram account that tracks ICE activity on Long Island.

"People are just getting harassed and it’s horrible," she said. "I feel like in a way they’re abusing their power."

Malone, who isn’t affiliated with a party, said she hadn’t decided whom she would support in November but that the law would play a role in her decision.

Newsday's Yancey Roy contributed to this report.