Latino rights advocates plea with Riverhead Town Board to consider OLA’s law

Immigration enforcement concerns took hold of the Tuesday evening’s Riverhead Town Board meeting as pleas for Riverhead to pass OLA’s Public Safety and Accountability Law reached a peak. 

All dressed in black clothing, a steady stream of nearly 20 Latino rights advocates, religious leaders, educators and concerned residents approached the podium in support of the highly debated legislation, which aims to install an “emergency preparedness” plan if another ICE raid happens on the East End. 

Many aired out their fears of growing ICE presence on the East End, others took aim at Councilwoman Joann Waski’s previous comments and a majority called out town officials for refusing to call OLA’s leadership in for a work session or set up a meeting to discuss the intricacies of the law.

Most of the town officials stayed silent during the meeting, until Supervisor Jerry Halpin shared his appreciation for the “great amount of comments.” Before making a motion to close the meeting, he refuted claims from the crowd that “no one has met” with OLA and said he had OLA’s executive director Minerva Perez in his office. 

Ms. Perez shot up from her seat and fired back, calling the supervisor’s comments “disingenuous.” When she expressed she felt “surprised” by Mr. Halpin’s statement, he responded: “I don’t believe you were, but that’s okay.” 

“I did have a chance to meet with Supervisor Halpin because he, I think, felt pressured to do so,” Ms. Perez said, closing out the meeting. “He did not speak at all about the law…he said he didn’t want to because he thought the police were doing a great job, which definitely outlined the fact that he hadn’t read the law and he doesn’t understand that the police are doing a great job, and we want to support that.” 

She recalled the meeting “was about learning about what OLA did” and Mr. Halpin offering Ms. Perez the “chance to work in Riverhead.” 

“We’ve been working and serving Riverhead for 24 years — I don’t need your permission,” the OLA leader directed to Mr. Halpin. “We do great work here, we work with families.” 

At the heart of the issue is a “nonstop desire to mischaracterize” OLA’s Public Safety and Accountability Law, according to Ms. Perez, who believes what stands in the way of it being passed is a lack of understanding of what is actually being proposed. Those in favor of the law simply want to be brought to Riverhead’s table to discuss it.

“It is the most simple thing ever: it is essentially a love letter to law enforcement and our towns, about what we do together,” Ms. Perez explained. 

She added the law is not meant to interfere with ICE operations, but aid in coordination between law enforcement, town officials, healthcare facilities and local schools when a situation occurs. 

Since February, there has been a push with the circulating legislation for East End towns to create task forces on immigration enforcement. The law also establishes police department policies around license plate recognition technology, as well as aids their ability to train and designate officers to investigate incidents of law enforcement impersonations. 

Riverhead officials have previously said they are not considering the legislation. So far, East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village are the only East End municipalities to adopt versions of the law. Southold is expected to set a target to finalize an internal policy and resolution framework by its next town board meeting on Aug. 25. 

OLA’s law draws warning from Rep. Nick LaLota, who said he would not support discretionary Community Project Funding for governments that adopt policies he believes obstruct or impede lawful cooperation with federal authorities.

Colin Tooker of Riverhead posed one question to the town board several times: “Do you intend to abide by your oath to the U.S. Constitution and represent all residents within the town’s geographic boundaries regardless of their citizenship or legal immigration status?”

The only response came from Councilman Bob Kern, who said: “That’s what we do every day of the week, seven days a week, is we address what is going on in this town…day and night.” 

Allyson Matwey of Wading River challenged Mr. Kern and the town board, asking if they were aware of the number of ICE sightings in Riverhead since January. She alleged there had been at least 21, and proceeded to list various times and locations. 

Islip Forward, a nonprofit that tracks immigration enforcement activity on Long Island, reported eight verified sightings in Riverhead since May, according to its website. 

“We want to have a place where we can ask questions, where we can have a back and forth, instead of us coming here and getting stonewalled,” Ms. Matwey said. “We’re desperate.” 

Georgette Lauzier of South Jamesport, who was the Riverhead News-Review’s 2012 Civic Person of the Year, spoke on how the uptick in ICE operations impacts children in the community and local schools.

“Children in crisis cannot learn,” she said. “As a taxpayer, as well as a teacher, I want to know that the majority of my tax dollars that’s going into our school district is being adequately and effectively used….the fear and the anxiety that I see in young children today is more than alarming.”

As a former teacher of the Brentwood Union Free School District, when Sallie Donnellan of Baiting Hollow lost a student to MS-13 gang violence, she said she supported ICE operations that targeted criminals. 

However, after seeing individuals with civil violations “being taken away” and ICE heavily in the mainstream news cycle, Ms. Donnellan said her views have changed. 

“I liked ICE then, not so sure what I think now,” she said. “None of us in this room created this huge immigration mess…but who’s being punished? Dreamers’ dreams are smashed, promised protection status is taken away willy-nilly….this is our part at a grassroots level to support those less fortunate than us, it is a step to common decency.” 

Silvina Silvi Vega of Wading River, who said she recently became a U.S. citizen, said up until about a week ago, she was “terrfied” to come into Riverhead. She explained that during this process she was without documentation to prove she was a citizen. 

“I didn’t feel that my town officials were protecting me,” Ms. Vega said.