Nassau County Ends 287(g) Agreement With ICE, Blakeman Says

MINEOLA, NY — Nassau County dissolved its 287g agreement with ICE at 4:05 p.m. Tuesday, County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced Wednesday. In a press conference at the county executive building, Blakeman said the county would comply with the “technicalities” of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “Local Cops, Local Crimes” act.

“We looked for every possible way not to comply with this law,” Blakeman said. “However, it was concluded that we would have to abide by this law.”

Nassau County signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE in March of 2025. According to the county executive, county attorney Thomas Adams’ office sent a letter to ICE dissolving the county partnership at 4:05 p.m. Tuesday.

Simultaneously, Blakeman said, Nassau County had complied with a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The county executive called it “one of the saddest days in [his] life as county executive,” and highlighted recent arrests in Nassau County that he said had been made possible through the county’s ICE partnership.

Among the specific incidents referenced was the arrest of Rony Yahir Alvarenga Rivera, who was previously charged with stabbing two women in Valley Stream and Island Park, and a gang takedown that NCPD carried out last year.

Blakeman said the law banning 287(g) agreements had been passed for "political purposes," and made repeated reference to Hochul in his remarks Wednesday.

As for what ending the 287(g) agreement looks like, Blakeman said the detectives that were co-designated with the federal agency under the agreement were no longer co-designated, and said that ICE would no longer be able to work out of the Nassau County Jail.

While the county is no longer allowed to work with ICE on civil immigration proceedings, per Hochul’s law, Blakeman said NCPD would continue working with ICE wherever possible.

“Whatever we are allowed to do within the confines of this law, we will do,” Blakeman said.

The county executive also said that he had directed acting sheriff Robert Matarazzo to join a federal lawsuit against the state that had been filed yesterday by 15 county sheriffs across New York including his gubernatorial running mate, Todd Hood.

In his letter to ICE Tuesday, Adams said the county was terminating the agreement, "regretfully," calling the ban on 287(g) agreements between ICE and local police departments a "barrier to common-sense law enforcement."

"Nassau County is not a sanctuary county," Adams wrote. "It cooperates with its law enforcement partners, state and federal, in the enforcement of our nation's laws to ensure the safety of the citizens of Nassau County."

In his remarks Wednesday, Blakeman also took time to thank the police officers who had helped carry out the ICE agreement, calling the county's working relationship with the federal agency "a true partnership."

"I want to congratulate the Nassau County Police Department, our corrections officers, for the outstanding job they did working with ICE," Blakeman said. "You are, truly, a model of law enforcement professionals in America, and as Nassau County Executive — on behalf of the almost 1.5 million residents of Nassau County — thank you for the way you dispatched your duties with such a high level of care and professionalism."