Thursday, October 1, 2026
State Democrats, including Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages and State Sen. Julia Salazar, visited the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow on July 23, in order to inspect the conditions of cells being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
According to a press briefing sent to the Herald from Salazar’s office on July 22, ICE has detained more than 1,400 New Yorkers at the East Meadow facility over the last five months through an agreement with County Executive Bruce Blakeman. Salazar’s office stated that “none of the people Nassau police has handed over to ICE are violent criminals.”
Salazar, who represents parts of Brooklyn, is chair of the state commission on crime victims, crime, and correction. Solages, who represents her hometown of Elmont and several other communities, is chair of the state’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian legislative caucus.
Nassau County has actively cooperated with ICE since February, when Blakeman announced that officers would collaborate with the federal agency in a “targeted” crackdown on undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
The partnership included allocating 50 local jail cells for the federal agency to hold immigrants.
Initially, Salazar and Solages were denied entry into the jail on Wednesday morning but later permitted to enter. There is a state law that allows elected officials to visit local correctional facilities “at pleasure” and without prior authorization.
Salazar is calling on the state legislature to convene a special section to pass “Dignity not Detention,” which would end ICE’s usage of the Nassau County jail. Her office said, “New York should not be helping ICE abduct or detain New Yorkers.”
At a news conference held after the tour, Salazar noted there are people detained by ICE in the jail “who have not been charged with a crime.” She added that her and Solages’ goal was to “observe the conditions of the facility” and “speak to individuals being detained.”
Salazar said that they did not observe egregious conditions. Detainees were being fed lunch and had access to medical care and to phones to call attorneys but added that some detainees were denied access to showers. Salazar also said she suspected that the detained immigrants are being held longer than the legal limit of 72 hours, the standard time set in place by federal agencies.
In total, there were 14 people being held in ICE cells on July 23.
One man from Huntington, Salazar said, stated that he is a business owner who has lived on Long Island for about 20 years. He was arrested on July 20, brought to the facility the same day, and when Salazar inquired if he knew when he would be leaving, he said he did not know.
Speaking on their initial denial into the facility, Salazar said she was glad that the state law was “eventually understood,” permitting them to access the jail.
“But once we were inside,” she added, “the administration sought to strictly limit our communication with detainees. Every time we wanted to see something, it was a debate with them, even though our requests were completely reasonable to observe the conditions.”
Solages, who is of Haitian descent, said it was “heartbreaking” to see individuals from her community being rounded up and detained by ICE.
“I know that one day, in those cells, it’s going to be my neighbor, a store owner in Nassau County — it’s going to be someone that I personally know who has contributed to this state, who was a taxpayer, who had working papers, because this federal administration has been cruel to immigrants,” she said.
Blakeman, at a news conference on afternoon of July 23 in Mineola, walked reporters through the timeline of events, stating that Salazar and Solages showed up “unannounced” with staff and members of the media, which is what caused the delay in their entry. After it was advised they could enter the facility, within 40 minutes of their initial arrival, accommodations were set up to allow them to tour the jail safely.
“They got a thorough tour of the correctional facility, and I think they were very satisfied — at least they indicated to our staff that they were satisfied with the accommodations that the sheriff’s office made and the county executive’s office made,” he said. “We welcome their visit. We’re happy that they came to come see if there are any misunderstandings or rumors, that those could be set aside by showing them what was going on (in the jail).”
The county, Blakemam said, receives $195 in reimbursements from the federal government per detainee.
Regarding Salazar’s statement that some detainees had not been permitted to shower, Blakeman said upon learning that he directed the sheriff’s department to make sure that each detainee is entitled to shower each day they’re at the facility.
Speaking on the claims that detainees may not have committed crimes, Blakeman said “in the majority of incidents” there has been criminal activity.
“I can’t say all, because ICE does not share that information with us,” he said, “but the target is for people who are here illegally, who have committed a crime in New York state, so that is the criteria that was presented to us by ICE, and we believe that they are adhering to that criteria.”
