A joint operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI in Glen Cove on June 11 resulted in the arrest of four men near the Glen Street Long Island Rail Road station, prompting confusion, concern and community debate about federal enforcement tactics.
According to Glen Cove Police Detective Lt. John Nagle, city police responded to a call at around 8:30 a.m. about a possible assault in progress on Cedar Swamp Road. The call, placed by a local business owner, described several people chasing one another near the train station parking lot.
“Our guys got up there with lights and sirens, thinking it was an assault taking place,” Nagle said. “Turns out it was ICE activity.”
Federal agents had not notified Glen Cove police in advance of the operation, which Nagle said is not unusual, though in prior instances local law enforcement had been made aware.
“There’s times when we do work with ICE,” Nagle said. “We’ve pinpointed some really serious criminals in the past with their assistance. But on this particular day, we didn’t know anything about it.”
The Trump administration has said it wants to arrest more than 3,000 illegal immigrants a day. The escalation of enforcement tactics has sparked clashes between police and protesters, most notably in Los Angeles and New York City.
A witness who declined to be identified, citing fear for his safety, said he was driving by when the arrests began. “I was just passing by when everything was happening,” he said. “You had guys running, then others running after them. One guy was thrown to the ground. It didn’t look like they were being friendly about it.”
The witness, who described the area as a regular gathering place for day laborers, said that arrests occurred across from Burger King, in a nearby parking lot and near the train station. He later saw Glen Cove police patrolling other areas, he said, including near La Placita and 7-Eleven, and by a creek where homeless people sometimes stay.
“There were sirens, people running — then, all of a sudden, it was over,” the witness said. “It happened fast.”
The Herald spoke to a dozen residents who both supported and opposed the ICE presence in Glen Cove. A majority said they opposed it, but everyone surveyed declined to comment on the record.
Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck defended the operation, saying that federal authorities were targeting specific individuals with criminal records.
“It isn’t like a random raid,” Panzenbeck said. “People are misunderstanding. They are coming in for specific people — criminals. These are not good people. These are very bad people that we don’t want living among us.”
Panzenbeck and Nagle both emphasized that, to their knowledge, ICE was targeting those with violent backgrounds. Nagle cited recent examples of cooperation with ICE involving arrests of alleged gang members, including one wanted for attempted murder in El Salvador and another arrested for voyeurism involving a minor.
Despite those reassurances, the unannounced presence of federal agents in downtown Glen Cove — a city where 34 percent of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to U.S. Census data — sparked concern among local advocates.
“There are law-abiding, hardworking business people that are here legally and should not be afraid of going to work, going to the doctor or picking up their child from school,” Connie Pinilla, president of the North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said. “If a law-abiding citizen is stopped, that person has the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney and the right to refuse a search without probable cause.”
Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton also questioned the lack of coordination. “I think it would be a good idea if ICE notified local police departments before they conducted any raids in their jurisdiction,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi called the incident troubling. “I fully support the deportation of violent criminals,” he said. “But I’m increasingly concerned about rising fear in the community. Innocent families should not be swept up in poorly coordinated raids.”
Suozzi said he had contacted both local and national ICE officials and was awaiting a response. “We can’t allow well-intentioned efforts to address immigration challenges to turn into a chaotic process that harms families and bypasses proper procedures,” he said.
For now, city officials are urging calm and attempting to dispel rumors of sweeping raids. “There’s a misconception that ICE is just combing through the community and taking anybody who is not legal,” Panzenbeck said. “That isn’t the case, and we have to quell that.”
Assemblyman Charles Lavine said that the administration’s approach to immigration has “turned into an unjustified show of brute force. The resulting intimidation and threat to the peace and safety of our communities and the resultant frightening of our children is crudely un-American.”
