ICE Escalates Activity In Parts Of Nassau County, Local Lawmakers Confirm

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — There has been an escalation of U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) activity in Nassau County, two local politicians confirm to Patch.

Agents were in Freeport, causing a county lawmaker to react.

"I am dismayed by the indiscriminate ICE raids that are continuing to terrorize families across Nassau County and in my own backyard here in Freeport," Alternate Deputy Minority Leader Debra Mulé (D–Freeport) said in a statement. "Rounding up people without judicial warrants because they “look” undocumented is racial profiling. It makes us less safe and dangerously erodes the bedrock democratic principle of due process — which everyone in America is entitled to, regardless of immigration status."

This comes as protests gain momentum across the country, including in New York City and Los Angeles.

"It is the latest act of intentional cruelty by an administration that uses the most vulnerable people in our society as political props. Their actions are making families afraid to send their children to school, go to work, or shop for groceries."

The escalation of ICE activity also took place in Glen Cove on Wednesday, Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-North Shore) said.

“I learned ICE was in Glen Cove today, as they were yesterday in Westbury. They were involved in an auto accident in Westbury and presented themselves near the Park Avenue Elementary School. The sudden presence of an armed and masked military force in Westbury resulted in a community response in which residents expressed anger over an obviously excessive and aggressive display of force," Lavine said in a statement.

The crash involved agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the department that oversees ICE, Newsday reported.

A request for comment from Patch to ICE was not immediately returned.

"Trump and ICE’s ham-handed approach, purportedly designed to rid us of criminals, has instead turned into an unjustified show of brute force," Lavine added. "The resulting intimidation and threat to the peace and safety of our communities and the resultant frightening of our children is crudely un-American."