While New York City doubles down on Trump resistance and socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani is heavily favored to be elected the next mayor of America’s largest city, a nearby suburb is going the opposite direction, and it is working “even better than anticipated,” according to the county’s top official.
In February, Nassau County, New York, launched a new partnership with the federal government to allow police to assist with immigration enforcement. The partnership was further expanded in March. Currently, ten Nassau County detectives have been trained and designated to work with ICE on apprehensions and investigations, and the county has reserved 50 jail cells for ICE to hold detainees for up to 72 hours for deportation or charges.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said, “Our communication has never been better with ICE.”
Though such policies are unlikely to be adopted in New York City, Blakeman said they are massively popular, including with the county’s Hispanic population. He also said the policies have been yielding results not only for the county but the entire region.
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“It’s very clear,” he said. “When you look at the results here in Nassau County, any chief executive of any county or any city or town or village in New York state, or in America for that matter, should look very closely at reconsidering and cooperating with ICE because they’re doing a great job in keeping our county safer. And they would do a great job keeping the rest of the communities throughout the United States safer if people work with them instead of working against them.”
Blakeman said that, in September alone, Nassau County Police worked with ICE to arrest 47 illegal immigrants, 28 of whom were involved with gang activity, including drug dealing, attempted murder, carjacking and robbery.
“That’s 47 people who won’t be preying on our communities going forward. So, I think it’s been tremendously successful,” he said.
He also said the Nassau County Jail has processed over 2,000 ICE cases.
“That’s another 2,000 people that are off the streets of not only Nassau County, but the whole metropolitan area. So, we’re not only keeping Nassau County safe, but we’re also keeping the rest of the metropolitan area safe by cooperating with ICE,” he said.
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While New York City is infamous across the country for its sanctuary and soft-on-crime policies, Blakeman said that, in Nassau County, the message has been received, and criminal illegals and migrant gangs “know that we are very tough on crime here” and that “if they’re arrested, they’re going to be incarcerated or deported.”
The result, Blakeman said, is that overall crime in Nassau County has gone down by 14%, and provisional data on opioid, fentanyl and other drug-related deaths show they have gone down by over 20% compared to the previous year.
Still, he said, he is worried about the possibility of an electoral victory by Mamdani, which he said could have broader implications for Nassau County and the entire region.
“I’m very concerned about what our relationship will be with NYPD if Zohran Mamdani becomes the mayor. So, that is a very big concern for me as the county executive of a community that borders New York City,” he said.
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“I am very concerned that we will not get accurate intelligence from NYPD. I would be very concerned about sharing sensitive intelligence with NYPD. Certainly, I would be reticent to go on joint operations unless our detectives and our police officers were protected when they go into the city of New York.
“It will certainly make our life more difficult for our police officers and our corrections officers and our sheriffs,” he added. “It will make our job a lot harder, but we’ll do what we got to do to protect Nassau County.”
Blakeman said he has already met with Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Rider to strategize for the possibility of a Mamdani victory.
“We’re hoping that the people of New York City see him for what he is. He’s a communist, he’s a virulent antisemite and he’s someone that does not share American values. And he has said he wanted to defund the police, that he wants to use social workers instead of cops to investigate crimes. I mean, it’s just craziness coming out of this guy’s mouth. So, it’ll make our life more difficult if he becomes mayor, but we’ll do what we have to do.
“My No. 1 job is to make sure that we have a very safe community. The fact that we’re the safest county in America and we’re one of the largest counties in America is a credit to our police officers, our sheriffs and our cooperation with our federal agencies,” he said, adding the ICE partnership has “worked even better than anticipated.”