Thursday, October 1, 2026
Security preparations and measures being implemented ahead of President Donald Trump’s Friday visit to Nassau County were unveiled on Aug. 13.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is also the Republican candidate for governor, said that Trump will receive a tour of Nassau County’s David S. Mack Intelligence Center and the Harry Singbola Training Village on the campus of Nassau Community College in Garden City.
The visit is intended to honor law enforcement officers, including police officers, correctional officers, and firefighters; it is described as a “public safety issue.”
Attendees must register at nassaucountyny.gov via a White House link before the end of the day. During the visit, there will be heavy security and street closures, particularly in Garden City, Mineola, Uniondale, East Meadow, and Hempstead areas between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder noted that the event venue will be “a hot zone” beginning at noon with county police, including the Aviation Unit, ESU, and K-9 unit, working alongside the Secret Service.
He added that a free speech protest zone has been established at Endo and Perimeter roads, though marches toward the college lockdown zone are prohibited.
Attendees will be allowed to enter from Stewart Avenue by Endo Boulevard and security will guide them to the parking area.
Ryder suggested that if possible to avoid the area. The gates will be open at noon and it will be a one-time entry.
"The only thing I would say is that if you can avoid the area, avoid the area,” Ryder said. “It's 5 o'clock on a Friday in the summer, and if that is the time the event ends, then that's the time that it ends. And we've got to make sure that we get the president out of there safely. That's our biggest concern.”
Blakeman also used the time to criticize his Democratic opponent Gov. Kathy Hochul's criminal justice policies, such as cashless bail and "Raise the Age,” and addressed her as “a pro-criminal governor in the United States of America.”
He addressed the tension over cooperation with ICE.
“Yes, of course. I think there's an ancillary benefit to people who believe in the same things that I believe in,” he said. “And that is that we should have safer communities, that we should give our law enforcement the tools, the technology, the equipment, and the training to do the job that they need to do, and basically to back the blue rather than denigrate the blue, like Zohran Mamdani and Kathy Hochul will continue to do.”
He noted the latest polling numbers asserting that current polls show a virtual dead heat rather than a significant deficit. Blakeman said that New York state’s policies have made communities less safe and have negatively affected correctional officers and prison safety.
Ryder reported that major crime in Nassau County declined by 9.5 percent in 2024 and by an additional 10.5 percent in 2025, based on current trends. The administration attributed the decline in major crime, in part, to stricter border security measures that have affected drug supply chains.
