In an article in Patch today, Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard released a statement Friday stating that despite recent federal executive actions, police will not detain anyone for suspected violations of immigration laws. This is unlike other towns on the East End of Long Island that have yet to act to protect their neighbors and their service workers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents (ICE).
There is no legal requirement for state, municipality, town, or other non-federal entities to assist or cooperate with such federal round-ups. We need not and should not participate.
There is no legal requirement for state, municipality, town, or other non-federal entities to assist or cooperate with such federal round-ups. We need not and should not participate.
New York State has enacted a law, the Protect Our Courts Act, that keeps ICE officers from making civil arrests in and around NYS Courts, including City and other Municipal Courts. That is the extent of the restrictions on ICE. Consequently, ICE officers can go to our schools, homes, and places of business and arrest anyone they choose. But it does not have to be this way. We can support our neighbors without status, and we can refrain from using our town resources to deport our neighbors.
13 states and more than 200 cities and counties have policies that limit assistance to federal immigration deportation proceedings. A June US Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo found 697 jails and prisons that either reject federal requests to detain immigrants in local jails or accept them in a limited fashion.
A police department's compliance with a detainer's (like ICE) request is voluntary. In a 1997 ruling in Printz v. United States, grounded in the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court held that the federal government cannot require state officials to enforce federal law, a doctrine known as the “anti-commandeering principle.” See also New York v. United States (1992). In other words, towns are within their legal rights when they refuse to transfer immigrants into federal custody.
What every town on the East End should do is require town employees to
-
not require residents to reveal their
immigration status as a condition for receiving public benefits such as access
to schools or emergency care;
-
limit the disclosure of residents’ immigration
status to the federal government; and
- refrain from arresting people solely based on their immigration status.
Let's follow Riverhead's lead.
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