Immigrant Advocates Express Outrage Over Relocation of ICE to Hospital Grounds

January 28th, 2019

Nassau County identifies alternative location for ICE at the Nassau University Medical Center

Long Island, NY - Last week Nassau County Executive, Laura Curran, announced her decision to relocate federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) trailers to the grounds of the Nassau University Medical Center.

The decision has sparked outrage and protest throughout the Nassau community, anticipating that undocumented residents will opt out of receiving necessary medical treatments due to the fear of being detained by ICE officers at the hospital.

Steven Choi, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition, issued the following statement in response:

“Nassau County Executive Curran’s decision to allow ICE to sit outside the most important safety-net hospital in the county will undermine public safety and public health efforts, and will keep immigrant workers and families from seeking critical health care services like primary and pre-natal care. Assurances that ICE will not be allowed in the Nassau University Medical Center do not change the fact that they will be located in the same complex, and visually and institutionally linked. If the County is committed to securing the trust of immigrant communities and encouraging them to use needed health care services, they should not be providing space to ICE on their property at all."

Background

The Office of the Nassau County Executive announced that ICE trailers formerly located outside the Nassau County Correctional Facility would be moved to the grounds of Nassau University Medical Center. The move is made in compliance with a recent court decision prohibiting the County Sheriff from delaying the release of any individual because of an administrative immigration detainer.

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