President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan has local elected officials and law enforcement walking a rhetorical tightrope as East End agencies try to balance cooperation with federal agencies and the immigrant community.
Suffolk County and Twin Forks town officials agree that they will follow New York State law requiring that they only detain an immigrant when federal authorities have a judicial warrant. Local officials simultaneously maintained that Suffolk is not a sanctuary county, yet the victims of a crime will not be asked their immigration status and urged witnesses to continue coming forward with information to help investigators. Reconciling the two ideas appeared trickiest in the Town of Riverhead, home to the largest immigrant population on the East End.
