Thursday, October 1, 2026
Amid an increase in immigration enforcement activity on Long Island, more than 150 residents packed First Baptist Church, in Glen Cove, on Jan. 15 for a community meeting, organized by Assemblyman Charles Lavine, focused on how residents can support immigrant neighbors and respond to what speakers described as escalating fear and uncertainty.
The gathering brought together civil liberties advocates, faith leaders and members of local rapid-response networks, following two recent vigils in Glen Cove led by Lavine, who said that more opportunities for community action are planned.
Leslie Dwyer, a member of the Glen Cove Rapid Response Network and Director of Public Affairs for Lavine, set an urgent tone. “Does everyone agree that enough is enough?” she asked the crowd. “We are here to promote good over evil.”
Recent events have unfolded so quickly, Dwyer said, that many residents feel overwhelmed, adding that distraction itself can be a strategy. “Tonight we’re going to focus on one place we can make a difference, and that is how we support our immigrant neighbors,” she said. “Although we’re limited in what we can do, we don’t have to sit idly by and watch.” She praised Lavine for what she described as his willingness to speak out, calling him “one of the few electeds that has the courage to stand up.”
Lavine, addressing the packed sanctuary, framed the meeting as a moral and civic response to federal immigration policies under President Trump. “There is such a thing as political science,” he said. “Political science requires important governmental decisions to be made based on truth, honesty, empirical studies and good faith — not on whim, not on personal grievance, hatred, racism or financial self-dealing.” He added, “We gather here this evening to protect our communities and to stand together against injustice,” and, “The American people are not to be abused.”
Lavine also said it was “not surprising that polls show that the popularity of Trump’s immigration policy is at about 30 percent,” and quipped, “Plantar fasciitis has greater popularity.”
Susan Gottehrer, director of the Nassau County chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, offered what she described as “the nuts and bolts” of immigration law to address widespread misconceptions. She emphasized that immigration enforcement falls under civil, not criminal law.
Gottehrer outlined various forms of legal immigration status, including Temporary Protected Status, work visas, school visas and asylum, stressing that they are “all legal processes.” Many immigrants, she said, are actively complying with the system, attending hearings and maintaining paperwork, yet they face sudden changes. “Trump is doing everything he can to remove the legal status,” she said, describing situations in which people show up for scheduled hearings “because they’re doing the right thing,” and are detained.
Turning to Nassau County policy, Gottehrer explained that the county allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to train and deputize local police officers and corrections officers to perform certain immigration enforcement functions. This expands ICE’s capacity locally, she said, and creates confusion and fear in immigrant communities. “People don’t know who they can trust,” she said. “So people are not going to call the police.”
Gottehrer questioned how residents could determine whether an officer is acting as a local official or an ICE agent, reminded attendees that the agency generally needs a judicial warrant to detain someone, and distinguished judicial warrants from administrative warrants, which she described as lacking due process.
Sonia Arora, of the Port Washington Rapid Response Network, described how community-organizing efforts dating back to 2016 have evolved into more formal support systems. Those early efforts, she said, focused on building trust with community leaders such as educators, librarians, clergy and an immigration attorney. “The most fundamental important thing for you to begin with are people that you trust and people that families trust, especially immigrant families,” Arora said.
Arora outlined a wide range of support services, including food coordination through houses of worship, legal and “know your rights” clinics, guardianship planning in case a parent is detained, and translation services. “You are witnesses,” she told the gathering. “You are observers.” She also discussed making ICE activity known through noise and attention, including whistles and signage, as a way to deter enforcement actions.
Tracy Bacher, a Constituant Liasion for Lavine and is involved with the Glen Cove Rapid Response Network, urged residents not to withdraw in fear. “The federal government really wants us to stay home right now,” she said. “They want us isolated, alone, filled with despair. And we are not going to do that.”
Bacher encouraged attendees to “be a witness,” saying, “we cannot let them operate in the shadows.” She outlined ways in which residents could get involved locally, including mutual aid, education and legislative advocacy, and urged people to contact elected officials about ICE funding and to support legislation such as the New York for All Act, which would shield immigrant New Yorkers by limiting state and local agency cooperation with ICE.
She also emphasized the power of visibility, from window signs to regular vigils.
The Rev. Roger C. Williams, pastor of First Baptist Church, closed the program by linking the meeting to the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “We’re caught up in this inescapable mutuality in a single garment of destiny — we are all together,” he said, paraphrasing King. Williams warned against “the politics of fear and hate.”
