Fear is ripping through local communities in response to federal immigration policy changes, and Long Island community members are taking action to ensure their neighbors’ rights are upheld for both immigrants and natural born citizens.
“We want people to know that we hope nothing will happen here, but in the event that it does, we want them to be prepared,” said Sister Kathy Somerville, of Our Lady of Fatima in Port Washington.
Shifts in federal immigration policy have taken hold in the first few weeks of President Donald Trump’s second presidency, including the repealing of sanctuary statuses for places of worship. Now churches, synagogues and other religious sites are required to allow federal agents to enter their facilities to arrest migrants without legal status in the country.
This policy change also applies to schools, where agents are now permitted to conduct arrests.
Previously, both places of worship and schools were off-limits for federal immigration agents to conduct raids and arrests.
Other actions Trump has taken within his first few weeks in office include an attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, which has been temporarily blocked by legal challenges, closing the southern border and rescinding several of prior President Joseph Biden’s orders enhancing protections for immigrants.
These policies have been paired with ramped-up immigration enforcement by ICE, including the removal of thousands of immigrants without legal status. Nassau County has also made a commitment to work with immigration agents on deportations.
These changes have stoked fear in local communities, including Port Washington, where 15.7% of its population is Hispanic or Latino, according to 2024 Census data.
In Port Washington, Our Lady of Fatima church has stepped in to ease the fear coursing through the community.
Somerville, who leads Our Lady of Fatima’s outreach program, said she interacts with many of the community’s immigrant population through their outreach services. Some of them are congregants, but not all.
“Families definitely are concerned because they don’t know what’s going to happen,” Somerville said.
To help out their community, Somerville said the church has helped educate individuals on their rights, including providing wallet-sized, red cards on do’s and don’ts if they are stopped by immigration agents.
While Somerville could not divulge details of their education efforts for the safety of their congregants and community, she said individuals can reach out to the church for resources and information.
Port Washington-based activist Sonia Arora is also pitching into local education efforts to inform individuals of their rights. This is being done in tandem with an Island-wide rapid response network to address broader issues and crises affecting immigrants.
Arora first acted on the issue during the first Trump presidency but returned to the fight after a brief hiatus in light of recent threats under his second term.
She said the work is found both locally and legislatively, with one hand focused on local education efforts of communities and the other advocating for legislative changes to address immigration.
“I think it’s absolutely, utterly important that all of us be educated about our constitutional rights, especially when our constitution is being encroached upon and when our democracy is in peril,” Arora said.
She said it is important for individuals to advocate on behalf of their immigrant neighbors, most of whom she said are contributing and critical community members.
Somerville said the church has also changed its protocols in response to sanctuary status changes, but again she could not provide details to preserve their safety.
“While I’m happy that no one has been picked up here [at the church], I do have concerns about what the future will hold,” Somerville said.
The Port Washington School District has also recently implemented protocols to protect its students in light of immigration policy changes. Interim Superintendent Christopher Shields said at a Board of Education meeting he could not provide details on the protocols in order to protect students.
About 9% of Port Washington students in 2023-2024 were designated as English as a New Language learners, a resource program for students who do not speak English or require additional language services because English is not their first language, according to state data.
Latino students also make up about 22% of Port Washington’s students, according to state data from 2023-2024.
Days before Trump took office, the state released guidelines on how school districts can protect the rights of their immigrant students. The guidelines address issues including school enrollment requirements, student information release, and potential law enforcement detention of students.
U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (NY–3 ) spoke to the fear in communities, saying that while he supports lawful deportations, additional action is needed to ensure rights are upheld and fixes are made to the system overall.
“I strongly support deporting undocumented criminals. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of concern that innocent families will be caught up in the zeal to deport criminals,” Suozzi said. “The answer is to find a bipartisan solution to secure the border, fix the broken asylum system, and to try to protect Dreamers, Temporary Protective Status recipients that we invited to America as well as farm workers and other essential workers. That’s what I am working on.”
ICE in Nassau County
Nassau County has also made a commitment to work with ICE agents, with Nassau County police officers to be granted federal authority to detain illegal immigrants in place of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
The authority has been granted to 10 Nassau County detectives and is permitted when ICE agents are unavailable.
ICE agents will also have a permanent presence at the county jail in East Meadow, which designated 50 jail cells to hold immigrants.
“This program is about illegal migrants who have committed crimes,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a Feb. 4 news conference. “This isn’t about raids. This is targeted enforcement of our laws based here in the state of New York.”
U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen (NY-4), a Democrat, expressed support for the county’s partnership with ICE and upholding immigration laws – including deportations.
“Violent criminals with no legal right to be here should be deported in accordance with the law,” Gillen said in a statement. “Nassau County PD detectives now being able to work directly with ICE agents on targeted enforcement against known noncitizen criminals will help keep Long Islanders safe. Our local officials know our communities best and we need them working with federal immigration authorities to ensure enforcement is targeted and properly carried out. The president has vowed to prioritize deporting criminals, and this local-federal coordination is a step in the right direction to ensure that happens on Long Island.”
Rumors of deportations have circulated throughout communities, which Sommerville said has contributed to the fear she sees locally. While some have been just rumors, Somerville said she could attest to some deportations occurring in Port Washington this year.
ICE reported on Jan. 24 a series of 23 arrests made on Long Island of illegal immigrants charged with sexual offenses, including that of a 21-year-old Guatemalan in Port Washington. Other arrests reported from that series included a 48-year-old Portuguese person in Mineola and a 46-year-old Pakistani in Hicksville.
These arrests were conducted before Nov. 2 last year.
Nassau County police said they could not provide information on arrests made by ICE in the county. Efforts to confirm the recent deportations reported in the community with ICE were unavailing.
