Fears Escalate Among Immigrants; Residents Ask if Village Can Become Sanctuary

GREENPORT, NY — Fears are escalating rapidly among the immigrant community and scores who attended the "Synergy Greenport" meeting Monday night asked if it were possible for the village or Southold Town to be designated a sanctuary and offer a safe haven.

"Synergy Greenport," was described by organizers as "an open and respectful conversation between the police and the community of Greenport."

Southold Town officials and the Anti-Bias Task Force, as well as Greenport Village officials, hosted the event, aimed at creating dialogue during a time when the nation stands divided by tensions between law enforcement and sometimes disenfranchised communities.

Sonia Spar, co-chair of the Southold Town ABTF, said she was speechless at the crowd of approximately 100 people that turned out. "I think it's very important to our community that we participate, join the conversation. It's all about respect, civility and opening the channels of communication."

Elected officials, Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley and Police Officer Alex Chenche, school representatives, and members of the clergy, as well as a large group of Latino residents, attended the meeting, which was held at the St. Agnes School in Greenport and moderated by Jim Banks, coordinator of multicultural affairs at Suffolk County Community College, and also chair of Southampton's anti-bias task force.

Greenport librarian Poppy Johnson kicked off the discussion by thanking Greenport Village Trustee Doug Roberts for taking a public stand this weekend to protect immigrants.

She asked if the village could make an official statement declaring itself as a sanctuary.

Johnson recalled 2007, when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Greenport had officers "dragging people out of their houses in the middle of the night. We all felt helpless and hopeless. . . We may consider ourselves a sanctuary but we have to figure out how to actually be one."

Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard said he's not sure the village could be a sanctuary because it doesn't have its own police department; Suffolk County is a sanctuary, he said.

Some asked if Southold Town would consider researching how to become a sanctuary. Flatley said any such decision would have to be made jointly with the town and village since they share a police department.

According to former Greenport Mayor Dave Kapell, who responded to the question after the meeting, since Greenport Village no longer has its own police department, and the definition of a sanctuary city is one with a police department that "refuses handover custody of arrestees. . . This is a moot point."

Councilman Bill Ruland and Jim Dinizio were at the meeting; Dinizio said the town has never considered it and he'd need information and much discussion, as well as talks with the ABTF.

Dinizio, who said he voted for Donald Trump, said he did so exactly because solutions needed to come from the federal level so people weren't being dragged from their homes in the middle of the night.

"I voted that way because our country is in such a state of disrepair," Dinizio said. "We have people we have elected that have done nothing. They've allowed people to come across our borders and live in the state they're living in now. . .not knowing if someone will knock on their door tonight and take their family away. I'm not saying I don't want them here. I'm saying we need to do something" on the federal level "to settle whatever that dispute is." Questions on whether or not those people are illegal or should be allowed to stay "are not for a town to consider, in my opinion," he said.

Most of town business involves issues such as town paving, Dinizio added. Of the idea of a sanctuary, he said, "At this point in time we have never addressed that and I don't know how we possibly could. I don't live in that world."

In an email after the event, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell, who was not at the rescheduled Synergy event due to a prior speaking commitment, addressed the question.

"I can't speak for the rest of the board but, no I wouldn't support Southold becoming a 'sanctuary town'. Federal issues are best left to federal officials to sort out," Russell said.

Flatley said the police department participates in a Protective Enforcement Program and if someone is arrested and convicted, their fingerprints are forwarded to ICE; whether or not someone is deported depends on a set of priority levels including if they are a threat to national security or have committed a "heinous felony or gang related crime," he said.

If a person's charge is dropped from a finger-printable to non-printable offense, those prints don't stay in the system, he said.

"Our department is here to protect and serve our community. I have no plans on dedicating officers to do any kind of immigration work," Flatley said. But, he added, "We have a President now — none of us are sure where he's going with immigration and how he's going to get there."

Johnson asked if the Southold police would be informed by ICE if additional raids were planned.

Greenport resident Oscar Cruz asked, if there were to be an ICE raid, if ICE officials even had an accurate list of who was living in rentals, since oftentimes, the offenders may have already moved. Dinizio said he did not believe the town should keep a list of renters.

Loretta Hatzel-Geraci, director of the North Fork Parish Outreach, said Cruz didn't believe there had to be a list of rental occupants but if there was one, it should be accurate so innocent people weren't woken up in the middle of the night in a raid after the alleged criminals had moved on to a new location.

Cruz added that such raids hurt the children of immigrants born in the United States. "In the Latino community, a lot commit crimes," he said. But those criminals do not represent the whole of the Latino community, he said. "We try to be good people, good neighbors. We love America. We love this country. We try to get involved."

Flatley said ICE no longer does that type of operation; they don't have the manpower. Down the line, the possibility exists that a decision might be made on a federal level that Southold has to deputize officers to execute such orders. "But we have no plans to do that right now," he said.

Some residents asked about the the rights of immigrants if ICE should come; they agreed public education needs to ensue so that all are aware of their rights.

Fears of retribution in local schools

One Mattituck mom asked how kids were doing in schools in the current political climate.

Greenport/Southold Schools Superintendent David Gamberg said the "current situation has certainly inflamed anxiety." Broadly speaking, he said, teachers and staff are asked to keep their eyes open to watch for kids who might be anxious.

He commended Roberts' efforts with the One Greenport Coalition, a group represented to give the disenfranchised a voice and to make all feel welcomed; a cultural festival for June 4 was approved for Mitchell Park.

"The most important thing we can do is to ensure that we expect civility and respect to be the rule of the day in the hallways" and in classrooms, Gamberg said. He added that a project is underway with Latino students that will reflect the history of the Southold school.

Banks said he's learned that sometimes kids are afraid to come forward to report bullying and said ears need to be kept to the ground.

Flatley said after Trump was elected, incidents of such bullying were reported in the Mattituck-Cutchogue school district, with one student even thinking of suicide.

Gang issue needs to be addressed

Greenport Village Trustee Mary Bess Phillips said the issue of gangs needed to be part of the discussion, "whether we want to face it or not."

She added that Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco has recently moved away from the county's sanctuary designation, and is now holding immigrants wanted by ICE in his correctional facilities.

Phillips said communication is critical in dealing with the gang situation. "We need to be proactive in dealing with it."

Flatley said the police department has representatives on the county's gang task force and also sends officers into schools with educational programs.

Two weeks ago, Flatley said, he and Gamberg addressed "an incident. . .stemming from possible gang members. This is something we deal with all the time. Latino gangs are recruiting younger kids at the school level," he said.

Phillips said as a community, despite ethnic backgrounds, there is a need to help young children to realize that gangs are not the best path.

Banks said one program to be considered is "positive ticketing," where police reward the good behavior of kids with "tickets," or rewards, from local businesses.

Another woman said her ninth grader has been bullied at school, with other students forcing him to try "gummy-based" marijuana. Her son, who has ADHD and seizures, has been afraid to go to school for a month and has been to the emergency room 30 times "because of all the fear and stress. He shouldn't have to live like this in school," she said.

Gamberg said he walks the halls of both districts daily but said there might be exchanges he or teachers don't hear. "I can say in general there is not a widespread rampant degree of hostility. That's not to say there isn't work to be done." He added that some kids suffer from anxiety and said mental health staff and teachers are in place to help.

He urged the mom whose son was having difficulty to come and discuss the problems with him personally.

A community in fear

Jim Shaw of Greenport said he works as an electrician and many in the Hispanic community discuss their fears during lunch. "They are extremely nervous."

He's part of a group heading to Congressman Lee Zeldin's office Tuesday to express concerns. "I've been asking them to come with me and they're very afraid. They don't want to speak up. They don't want to show their face. They're going back to hiding in the shadows."

Spar said the fact that such a large Latino contingent attended the event with local elected officials and police was a tremendous first step. "They know that they feel safe with us, addressing the issues of concern," she said.

Cutchogue business owner Anne Trimble spoke passionately about her employees, who represent an array of nationalities and all have green cards and drivers' licenses.

"I'm appalled that in 2017 we are dealing with this. They are terrified of what's going to happen to them in this new environment we have."

She added that immigrants are critical to the local canvas.

"We would tank as businesses, the North Fork would tank, without our immigrant population," Trimble said. "I want to assure my staff when they come back in the spring that they can feel safe in the community, walking and shopping."

Her remarks were met with loud applause.

Some employees, she said, went into a local restaurant after Trump was elected and were told, "Trump's in. It's time for you to go."

Another Mattituck resident said many immigrants have taxpayer identification numbers in lieu of Social Security numbers. "They are not citizens. They are taking their taxes without any benefits."

One of her workers, she said, began picking grapes. Now his wife has three stores and they have a nanny for their three American born children. "This man is the American dream. It behooves us to embrace them."

Mark Woolley, representing Congressman Lee Zeldin, said Zeldin has "zero tolerance for bias at all levels." He said both the congressman's Patchogue and Riverhead offices are working with residents and discussing concerns, as well as issues such as tourist visas integral to the East End's resort economy.

"You should feel free, citizens or non-citizens, to approach us," he said.

Roberts addressed the crowd. "This is a community conversation," he said. He added that he didn't like a word that he said Zeldin used, which was "they," in reference to immigrants. "There is no 'they.' You're here, we're here. We are here. The way we work on this as a community is to use the word 'we.' We are all here."

He also asked Flatley if there had been arrests in the peeping Tom case or the stabbing outside the IGA; Flatley said no. Roberts asked if Greenport could have additional, especially foot patrol, officers.

Flatley said Greenport "gets a lot more police presence" than other hamlets but said additional Spanish speaking officers would always be a positive.

Eric Melrose, a small business owner in Southold, said he's in the construction business and there's "a lot of fear. A lot of uncertainty on the federal level, about what this already means. 'If I get pulled over, what will happen?'" He said while he didn't mean to be "inflammatory," there should be a plan to inform the public about their basic rights and clear up the gray areas.

"The politics of fear is driving this nation right now — and we need to stop."

Councilman Bill Ruland agreed, mentioning the last line of the Pledge of Allegiance. "Liberty and justice for all. Not some. . . .All walks of life. The common thread here is people who care. That's the important thing. In the meantime we must be aware. To define who we are is how well we can come to a consensus."