New York State Immigration

Local Police in Westchester, Long Island Routinely Help ICE Make Arrests

A review of federal court documents by THE CITY reveals three dozen cases in which local law enforcement allegedly cooperated with ICE agents.

Gwynne Hogan · April 16, 2026

Federal ICE agent, June 17, 2025 | Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

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This article was published in partnership with THE CITY.

Around 11 p.m. one night in January, a Long Island couple was driving back to their home in Hicksville when Nassau County police pulled them over for having a suspended registration. The officers searched the car and claimed to have found drugs inside.

The couple was held overnight at the precinct. The next morning, police released the woman with a desk appearance ticket.

But as the woman waited outside for her boyfriend, she saw him walk out shackled with an officer who said he was with the FBI, according to a description of his arrest submitted in a federal habeas corpus petition filed in the Eastern District of New York. He called her from immigration detention later that day, having apparently been passed off from Nassau County Police to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The man’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a request for comment; neither did the Nassau County Police Department.

The case is one of three dozen arrests identified by THE CITY in a review of habeas petitions filed in federal courts in New York City and New Jersey between October 2025 and March of this year in which local police departments allegedly collaborated with ICE to apprehend unsuspecting immigrants.

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The cases all took place in cities and towns on Long Island and in counties north of New York City that lack sanctuary city protections, leaving local law enforcement there free to share information with ICE and to coordinate operations.

Most of the cases occurred in Nassau County, where the sheriff and police departments have expansive agreements with ICE that deputize them to conduct immigration enforcement. Many of the arrests identified by THE CITY, however, involved local police and probation officers tipping off ICE agents, rather than making arrests themselves.

THE CITY found several cases in Port Chester, Mount Vernon and Monticello, none of which have formal agreements with the Department of Homeland Security. There, local police or probation departments allegedly tipped off ICE to undocumented immigrants they had encountered.

THE CITY’s report comes as the state legislature is in final deliberations over the New York for All Act, a bill that would limit cooperation between local police departments and federal immigration authorities, except in certain circumstances. The legislation, sponsored by State Senator Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn) and Assemblymember Karines Reyes (D-The Bronx), has dozens of co-sponsors and the backing of a number of immigrants rights groups and the NYCLU.

Gov. Kathy Hochul initially countered with a more limited proposal that would end contracts with local jails and the 287(g) agreements that deputize local officers to perform immigration enforcement. On Thursday she offered a new proposal that went further, restricting communication between local authorities and ICE unless there was “probable cause” of a misdemeanor or felony crime.

“This is not done, it’s an important step forward,” Hochul said at a press briefing.

Immigration advocates say the proposal still leaves too much to the discretion of local police officers — and, in some cases, could open the door to more collaboration than is currently allowed. Yasmine Farhang, Executive Director of the Immigrant Defense Project, which has been tracking cases of collusion between local governments and ICE, called Hochul’s current proposal “deeply dangerous.”

“Doing this would create more harm than the status quo,” she said.

On X, Gounardes pointed to the recent viral video of police beating up a man in a bodega in Brooklyn.

“Police thought they had probable cause to arrest someone, used unjustifiable force on him, and had the wrong guy,” he wrote. “Letting police collude with ICE if they think there is probable cause a crime occurred will harm immigrants, and people who look like immigrants.”

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A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security criticized New York’s attempt to limit coordination with federal law enforcement. “Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country,” an unnamed spokesperson said.

ICE Came Instead

THE CITY identified 11 cases in Nassau County in which a local probation department tipped ICE off that an immigrant would be coming in for an appointment. Five of those involved a person on probation for driving while under the influence. Newsday has previously reported that Nassau probation officers are regularly tipping off ICE officers about immigrants showing up for probation appointments.

Local police in Nassau County appear to have notified ICE in 11 other cases reviewed by THE CITY. Seven of these took place on streets and highways, where cops stopped cars to arrest people and later handed them off to ICE.

In some cases, immigrants described waiting for police and a tow truck after minor car crashes. ICE came instead.

Spokespeople for the Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the Nassau County Police didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

More than 140 people have been arrested by ICE on Long Island through local 287(g) agreements since the start of the Trump administration, a small portion of the approximately 2,800 ICE arrests on Long Island in that time, according to data from the Deportation Data Project.

Outside of Nassau County, THE CITY found three examples in which Port Chester police were alleged to have tipped off ICE.

In two cases, men had spent the night in jail for traffic violations; as they were released the next morning, ICE was waiting for them outside the precinct.

In a third case, police told ICE in advance they were going to arrest a man who had been arraigned in Greenburgh on grand larceny charges several weeks earlier, according to ICE’s own account of the arrest, which was submitted in court. It’s not clear why Port Chester police re-arrested the man, but once he was in their custody, they called ICE, who came and picked him up at the precinct.

A spokesperson for the Port Chester Police Department didn’t return requests for comment on the incidents.