Curran allows ICE to stay at Nassau jail, for now

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran is allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stay on the county jail property until they can find a new location.

News 12 Staff

Jan 29, 2019, 12:41 AM

Updated 2,124 days ago

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Nassau County Executive Laura Curran is allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stay on the county jail property until they can find a new location.
"I heard the concerns of the community loud and clear," Curran says. "And the best solution, now that the federal government is reopened, I spoke to ICE today, we're going to let them extend their stay in that trailer at the jail while we come up with a more permanent solution."
Curran previously said she was kicking the agents out of their trailer at the jail and relocating them to a building on the nearby Nassau University Medical Center campus in East Meadow.
Immigration advocates opposed moving them to the hospital, saying patients feared they would be deported for using the hospital's services.
"I do not want people to be afraid to use the hospital, to come and get the medical care they need," Curran says. "I also want to make sure that we're being as responsible as we can in terms of law enforcement and keeping bad guys out of our neighborhoods."
Law enforcement union officials also strongly disagreed with the decision to move ICE, saying the agents belong on the grounds of the county jail, where information can easily be exchanged.
President Donald Trump slammed the move, saying it was the result of "radical Democrats."
There was no word on how long the agents would remain at the jail.