Thursday, October 1, 2026
State Democrats visited the Nassau County Correctional Center, in East Meadow, Aug. 7 to inspect the conditions of cells being occupied by those arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
State Senators Julia Salazar and Siela Bynoe, Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, Assemblyman Noah Burroughs and Suffolk County Legislator Sam Gonzalez were among the officials who toured the jail.
According to a release from Salazar’s office shared with the Herald, ICE detained 3,200 people in the correctional facility between February 2025 and March 2026. The majority of detainees had no major criminal convictions or charges.
Nassau County has actively cooperated with ICE since last February, when County Executive Bruce 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.
Salazar and Solages visited the jail last July, and Salazar’s office told the Herald that “none of the people Nassau police has handed over to ICE are violent criminals.” And last year’s visit was a contentious one — the state officials were initially denied entry into the jail, and later permitted to enter. A state law allows elected officials to visit local correctional facilities “at pleasure” and without prior authorization.
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, chairs the state’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian legislative caucus.
During last year’s visit, state officials said, they did not observe egregious conditions. Detainees were being fed lunch and had access to medical care and to phones to call attorneys, though some, Salazar said, were denied access to showers.
Blakeman spoke to the press after their visit, and said he felt the state officials were “very satisfied.” Responding to Salazar’s statement, he said that he had directed the sheriff’s department to make sure that each detainee is entitled to shower each day they spend at the facility.
The Aug. 7 visit came as New York state is requiring localities with agreements with ICE to end them by Aug. 25, under the Dignity Not Detention Act, which was passed in this year’s state budget after being sponsored by Salazar. The state attorney general’s newly created Office of Immigration Trust sent letters to 12 law enforcement agencies, including the Nassau County Police Department, in July, directing them to end those operations.
“Nobody is above the law,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a press release on July 24. “In New York, we will not tolerate the diversion of local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement at the expense of public safety.”
Federal courts rejected the U.S. Department of Justice’s challenge to New York’s mandate, denying the federal government’s request to block it. U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino, in a 51-page decision filed on Aug. 3, said that federal immigration law does not compel state or local governments to assist in civil federal enforcement.
While states and local governments have the option to enter into agreements with federal immigration officials to assist with immigration enforcement, the court said that New York “is not bound by that hope or expectation.”
After the Aug. 7 visit, Salazar said that four detainees had been discharged earlier that morning, which indicated that the facility may intend to comply with her legislation. While encouraged by the findings, her office said that state lawmakers would continue to monitor the facility’s progress and fight to ensure that no state or local resources are being allocated to ICE.
“New York has no business helping ICE decimate our communities, jail our neighbors, or rip our families apart. Nassau County’s agreement to jail New Yorkers for ICE is shameful and must end,” Salazar said in a release. “My bill, Dignity Not Detention, goes into effect at the end of this month — finally ending the county’s disgraceful collaboration with ICE.”
“Accountability means showing up more than once,” Solages said. “I’ve toured Nassau County Correctional Facility before, and I returned today with Senator Salazar and my colleagues to see conditions for ourselves … Nassau’s contract with ICE is set to expire on Aug. 25. We are going to make sure that deadline is met.”
Responding to the Aug. 7 visit, Blakeman said, “over 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records have been removed from our county making the entire region safer,” in a statement sent to News12, adding, “New York Democrats need to explain to the victims of attempted murder, rape, robbery and carjacking, why local law enforcement can’t coordinate with ICE in removing these dangerous criminals from our neighborhoods.”
