Cuomo Demands ICE 'Cease And Desist,' Threatens Legal Action

EAST HAMPTON, NY — New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has demanded that U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement immediately "cease and desist" its ICE raids and threatened legal action.

In a letter to ICE Deputy Director and Senior Official Thomas D. Homan, Cuomo said tactics deployed by agents "have become increasingly reckless and reflect a serious disregard for the rule of law."

Cuomo also signed an executive order — modifying executive order #170 to prohibit ICE arrests in state facilities without a warrant.

The executive order prohibits state agencies and officers from inquiring about a person's immigration status unless required by law — or necessary to determine eligibility for a benefit or service, or for disclosing information to federal immigration authorities for the purpose of civil enforcement. The executive order also prohibits law enforcement officers from inquiring about immigration status unless investigating illegal criminal activity.

"The reckless and unconstitutional practices ICE is deploying in our communities violate everything we believe in New York and are an assault on our democracy," Cuomo said. "I demand ICE immediately cease and desist this pattern of conduct, and if they fail to do so, I will pursue all available legal recourse and commit to doing everything in my power to protect the rights and safety of all New Yorkers."

At least one elected official blasted Cuomo on social media Wednesday.

"This guy is out of control," said Rep. Lee Zeldin. "King Cuomo actually believes that the law is whatever he says it is. No constitution, legislature or statute will ever take precedence over this man's political ambitions."

Cuomo has also said ICE's actions have had a crippling impact on the agriculture industry and on the local economy.

ICE Deputy Director Thomas D. Homan responded to Cuomo's demand: “As a native New Yorker who began my law enforcement career as a police officer in the state, I was disappointed to learn about the governor’s grandstanding today over the issue of immigration enforcement," he said.

"The governor's comments were inaccurate and an insult to ICE's sworn law enforcement officers who conduct their lawful mission professionally and with integrity. These brave men and woman leave the safety of their homes everyday to protect this great nation and our communities. ICE cannot and will not cease and desist from fulfilling our agency’s congressionally mandated mission of enforcing federal law."

Reflecting its commitment to public safety, since September 2016, Homan said ICE has arrested nearly 5,000 "criminal aliens" in New York — individuals with a criminal conviction in addition to violations of immigration laws.

"Many of these arrests were conducted at large in the community, which ICE is increasingly forced to do due to sanctuary policies in the state that prevent us from taking custody of criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail," he said. "The governor supports these policies at the expense of the safety of the very same communities he took an oath to protect."

Through Operation Matador, an operation focused on dangerous MS-13 gang members and associates in New York, Homan said ICE has arrested 484 individuals for both criminal and/or immigration violations. In addition, he said, ICE has increased its resources and assistance upstate to assist local law enforcement in opioid and fentanyl investigations and dismantling cross border crime.

“In each targeted enforcement action in which these specific individuals were sought, ICE officers acted professionally and within their legal authorities under federal immigration law," he said. "ICE will continue to protect New York communities against public safety and national security threats and it is false and offensive for the governor to say otherwise."

Impacts on agricultural

Without a solution to ensure that undocumented workers who clear background checks can obtain work visas, and that new workers are properly vetted and legal, the agricultural industry is vulnerable to losing its labor force, Cuomo said in a release.

According to a report released by Farm Credit East, which is based on 2012 census data, it is estimated approximately 1,080 New York farms would be impacted by the deportation of undocumented agricultural workers, "forcing these farms to go out of business or significantly reduce their operations," the release said.

New York agricultural production would likely be reduced by more than $1.37 billion, or 24 percent — resulting in more than 21,500 on-farm workers losing their jobs, both immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens, Cuomo said.

Cuomo's announcement comes as the East Hampton community continues to fight fiercely to help a local man detained by ICE.

A recent ICE sweep became very real for the many members of the Long Island community desperately trying to get Luis Marin Castro back home.

Recently Cuomo also spoke out about the "dramatic increase in ICE raids."

Cuomo said "overly aggressive tactics" raise concerns. While the administration has said that they are only "deporting dangerous criminals" Cuomo maintains that is not the case.

Cuomo said he believes ICE is using an "overly broad net and separating families with no criminal connection."

To that end, New York State has implemented a legal defense program, the Liberty Defense Project, to ensure legal rights are being represented; this year's state budget appropriates an additional $10 million for the Liberty Defense Project, Cuomo said.

The governor directed Secretary of State Rosanna Rosado, who runs the program, to expedite funding to two legal organizations that can provide expedited legal services through the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the Vera Institute of Justice.

More than three dozen people on Long Island were arrested in the latest roundup by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who arrested 225 people in the New York metropolitan area recently.

ICE officers made the arrests across New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley over a six-day period that started on Monday, April 9. According to ICE, 16 people in Nassau and 21 people in Suffolk were arrested. All of the 225 people arrested were violating immigration laws, ICE says, and of them, more than 180 were convicted criminals or have charges pending against them. ICE said that 80 of them had been told to leave the country and didn't, or had been previously deported and returned illegally.

"ICE continues to face significant obstacles with policies created by local officials which hinder cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement," Thomas Decker, the filed office director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, said in a press release. "Yet, with the tireless efforts of the men and women of ICE, this operation was a great success."

The human face of the latest ICE sweep

The East Hampton community has shown fierce solidarity and force to help their friend.

The outpouring of support from friends and colleagues who know and love Marin Castro paint a portrait of a community rocked by the ICE detainment they say has ripped a man they call kind and hardworking from the heart of his home.

A GoFundMe page, "Bring Luis Home," was created after Marin Castro was approached and detained by ICE on April 9.

"Luis has been a community member of East Hampton since he arrived with his family from Ecuador in 1997," the GoFundMe page said, adding that he attended East Hampton High School and graduated from Suffolk County Community College.

"You might have gotten to know Luis as part of the Nick & Toni's staff family, where he's worked for the last six years, working his way up from a young busser to sommelier," the page said. "His love for wine led him to a second job at the Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits store, where perhaps he has helped you pick out just the right wine for a dinner party or a special gift."

Efforts are dedicated to raising money to help support his legal expenses, while his friends and legal team fight to bring him home to his wife, two younger sisters, father and mother, the page said.

Rachael Yong Yow, public affairs officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, explained why Marin Castro was detained in a statement to Patch: "On April 9, ICE deportation officers arrested Luis Marin Castro, an illegally present national and citizen of Ecuador, as part of a targeted immigration enforcement operation. He has a DUI conviction from July 2015," she wrote in an email. "Upon his arrest, deportation officers issued him a notice to appear before an immigration judge, and he is currently in ICE custody.

Friends are working to provide legal counsel and find answers so Marin Castro can be brought back to New York.

He was just days away from being fingerprinted for his green card and was working toward citizenship, friends said.

Patch courtesy photo of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Luis Marin Castro photo courtesy GoFundMe.