ICE Arrests 21 On Long Island As Part Of Nationwide Sweep

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 83 people in New York Tuesday as part of a nationwide enforcement operation that led to more than 2,000 arrests. Many of those arrested in New York are from Long Island.

More than 50 people arrested in New York were released from local law enforcement custody, officials said. A total of 18 had been previously removed or deported from the country and three were foreign fugitives.

“Some criminal aliens may think that just because the nation is fighting the coronavirus, ICE is impaired from carrying out its sworn duty of removing egregious criminals from American communities,” said Thomas R. Decker, the ICE field office director for New York. “I think the 83 immigration arrests in New York are evidence that that could not be farther from the truth. ICE officers will continue to conduct enforcement removal operations while making every effort to minimize the risk to agency personnel, aliens, and the public during this pandemic.”

Those arrested are from more than 25 different countries. On Long Island, ICE arrested 13 people in Nassau County and eight in Suffolk. Of those, the agency said that four were previously deported and 15 were released from local custody with active ICE detainers. ICE publicized some of what it called the most egregious offenders:

• A 38-year-old Salvadoran citizen arrested in Uniondale. ICE previously removed the person from the United States following a conviction in 2005 for third-degree rape of a person under 17.
• A 23-year-old, self-described 18th Street gang member and Salvadoran citizen, arrested in Hempstead. An immigration judge in Massachusetts ordered the person removed from the U.S. in absentia in 2019. A judge convicted the person in 2020 for third-degree assault.
• A 38-year-old Salvadoran citizen arrested in East Meadow. An immigration judge previously ordered the person removed from the U.S. in 2006. In July, the person was released from local law enforcement custody with an active detainer, following an arrest for second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Decker blasted the sanctuary policies of municipalities as the reason the people were on the street.

“It’s shocking to think that instead of criminal aliens being safely transferred to ICE custody, local sanctuary city policies force law enforcement agencies to release them back into the streets to commit more criminal acts,” he said.