Nassau Exec Bruce Blakeman vows to keep ICE deal alive despite new sanctuary laws and threats from Gov. Hochul
Go ahead, Blake’s his date.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman dared Gov. Kathy Hochul to try to block him from helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement in violation of the new sanctuary bills that largely prevent local police from working with immigration authorities.
The bill package passed by the Democrat would block the relationship Blakeman shared with ICE that provides facility space at the Nassau County jail.
Blakeman, who is running against Hochul for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, had a muted response to the governor’s threats to Attorney General Letitia James to force Nassau County to comply with anti-ICE laws.
“It made my day,” she said.
“We will not comply with a law that restricts our ability to cooperate with (ICE),” Blakeman said, adding that he intends to sue the state over the new laws.
A sneer relayed exclusively to The Post could put Blakeman and Hochul in contention outside the ballot box in November.
Hochul has increasingly established himself as the leader of the Democratic “resistance” against President Trump, particularly for his tough immigration policies.
Under pressure from the left, Hochul pushed a sweeping legislative package to include New York as a sanctuary city.
The bills would block cooperation between local police and ICE, including all “informal cooperation” such as a city police officer calling a federal agency if they believe an undocumented immigrant is in their custody.
The package also prohibits all federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks to hide their identity and allows people to sue immigration agents for violating their constitutional rights, such as warrantless home invasions.
But the blocking of so-called “287-g” agreements — where certain jurisdictions have entered into agreements with feed-backs — almost seemed tailor-made to settle Blakeman.
Blakeman, who is a singing friend of Trump, entered into one of the most cooperative 287-g agreements in New York with ICE last year.
Under the terms of the contract, 50 prisons are set aside to house immigration inmates, but for up to three days before they are removed by federal agents or released.
As of February 2025, Nassau County is holding nearly 3,200 ICE immigration detainees taken from all areas of the New York metropolitan area.
When Hochul presented himself as the anti-Trump Rambo, Blakeman woke up Dirty Harry and vowed to sue to keep his ICE deal alive.
“We’ve removed thousands of illegal immigrants with criminal records – and we haven’t raided one church, we haven’t raided one school, we haven’t raided one childcare center, we haven’t raided one hospital – we’ve done it collaboratively so we had the power over it,” Blakeman said.
State officials have attacked the partnership and Nassau County was sued by the New York Civil Liberties Union over the deal in a lawsuit that was dismissed.
Critics pointed out that about 60% of ICE detainees in Nassau County were found to have criminal records, and only about 5% were convicted of violent crimes, according to federal data.
Sources close to Blakeman, however, said the county only hands over immigrants directly to ICE in cases of violent crime or when a prisoner is being held, as in the case of the alleged arsonist Lopez Avalos.
Sources also said that Nassau’s isolated holding cells are mostly occupied by prisoners who were taken by bullies from outlying areas.
