OLA in the News

After Renee Good was killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis earlier this month, Long Island is seeng a surge in volunteers joining anti-ICE patrol groups. Newsday reporter Bart Jones spoke with a local responder. Credit: Newsday Studios The number of anti-ICE citizen patrol volunteers on Long Island is surging in the wake of the fatal shootings of two people in Minneapolis as organizers said they fear the deaths mean the federal deportation campaign has moved into a more vo

Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez delivered her State of the Town address on Tuesday. Durell Godfrey East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez delivered the annual State of the Town address at Tuesday’s East Hampton Town Board meeting, focusing on successes from 2025 and the direction the town will take in 2026, and announcing the creation of a new Latino advisory committee. “Thank you for being part of this community. Thank you for showing up.” The supervisor teared

Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, supervisor of East Hampton Town, participated in the State of the East End discussion in Wading River in July.  Credit: Randee Daddona East Hampton Town will form a committee aimed at integrating its Latino residents during a time when many of those families are living in fear over the federal government's mass deportation plan. Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, a Democrat beginning her second term in office, announced the initiative on Tuesday during h

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweep happened on Monday morning, advocates said. Credit: AP/Erin Hooley At least three people were arrested by federal immigration agents in Riverhead on Monday morning, according to eyewitnesses and volunteers with the nonprofit OLA of Eastern Long Island's rapid response network, who said the agents carried out a series of enforcement actions through residential and commercial areas. The activity further rattled a community that

Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA Eastern Long Island, is the Dan’s Papers 2025 Person of the Year. For more than two decades, Minerva Perez has helped redefine what community leadership looks like on the East End of Long Island. In moments of calm and crisis, she has built systems where none existed, stepped into gaps others avoided, and insisted that a healthier, safer region must include everyone. That work is why Dan’s Papers  has named Perez its 2025 Person of th

ICE officers photographed at the Hampton Bays Fire Department substation on Ponquogue Avenue. ANITA BOYER Federal immigration officers again roamed through Hampton Bays and Westhampton on Tuesday morning, detaining multiple people in Hampton Bays before heading west, though it’s not yet known if there were more detentions made there. Members of the local group of residents who have organized to track and film operations by officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Tamara Mayorga-Wong leaves the Eastern District of New York courthouse in Central Islip on Nov. 20. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp Some East End residents rallying behind a woman arrested after trying to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from detaining a man in Westhampton say they have a message for her: We’ve got your back. The residents started an online fundraising campaign that has raised thousands of dollars. They also are sending messages of solidarity to

The Express News Group presented an Express Sessions panel focused on Hampton Bays and the issues that are important to its residents on November 20 at Cowfish. As part of an ongoing series of special Express Sessions events, titled "Local Matters," Hampton Bays was in the spotlight. Local and town leaders join a panel discussion devoted to the important issues for Southampton Town's most populous hamlet. Among the topics discussed were the ongoing legal battle over the Shinn

Ella Engel-Snow speaks out against ICE, Photo: Lisa Tamburini Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ recent arrest of about a dozen immigrants on the South Fork sparked renewed protests of President Donald Trump’s continuing aggressive national migrant deportation effort. Critics rallied at Southampton Town Hall at the town board’s latest meeting on Nov. 12 in the days after ICE agents made arrests in Hampton Bays and Westhampton, where the agency using a local fi

The protest is the third in as many weeks to protest ICE on the East End. A previous East End protest. (Courtesy Anita Boyer) EAST HAMPTON, NY — Protestors outraged over ICE raids on the East End will gather again Friday to speak out, this time in East Hampton. According to organizer Anita Boyer, the event will take place at the Hook Mill, at the corner of North Main Street and Pantigo Road, from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.   The goal, she said, is to "stand up for our neighbors and

Protests over the detention of at least a dozen people by federal immigration agents in Hampton Bays and Westhampton earlier this month continued to ripple across the South Fork this week. Dozens of angry residents bombarded the Southampton Town Board last Wednesday, November 12, with demands that local officials take steps to express opposition to federal immigration operations here. About 55 protesters demonstrated in Westhampton on Friday morning and another protest is pla

ICE has been enacting sudden raids throughout the East End of Long Island, causing widespread alarm and confusion, especially within the Latino community. Many families have stopped sending children to school, avoid medical appointments, and other basic parts of life for fear of being detained. Minerva Perez is Executive Director of OLA of Eastern Long Island , a Latino advocacy organization. She joined the panel to give detail and context around these instances as well as he

Patti Schaefer Fahey of Westhampton Beach addresses the Southampton Town Board about ICE activities in Southampton last week. RiverheadLOCAL/Juliana Holguín. A crowd filled the Southampton Town Hall meeting room Wednesday afternoon as residents, clergy and immigrant advocates called on the Town Board to take a stand against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Hampton Bays and Westhampton Beach last week. “Families are being snatched from their homes and wor

While the ICE sweep last week that ensnared a dozen immigrants has sparked outrage and protests from some, those who are dedicated to helping members of the immigrant community have been beset with a new mountain of demands. For OLA of Eastern Long Island, the region’s most prominent Latino advocacy and support organization, the aftermath of last week’s sweeps has left the organization scrambling to get help to those detained and their families and address renewed anxieties a

As News 12 reported, multiple Long Island Cares pantries saw big increases in the number of families they served from the last week of October to the first week of this month, such as Valley Stream, which saw an increase of 120%. One Long Island Cares pantry says they saw a drop in people coming in last week due to immigration fears. The Long Island Cares Hampton Bays food pantry typically serves 150 families per week. But they recently saw a dramatic drop. "It's the immigrat

On Wednesday, November 5, ICE agents swept into Hampton Bays and Westhampton, setting upon immigrant laborer gathering spots and businesses that employ or are frequented by immigrants. The officers made several arrests as part of the largest local federal immigration sweep since the start of the second Donald Trump administration.
 In this week's episode, the editors talk about the operation with senior reporter Michael Wright, New York State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani fields questions at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/James Carbone Zohran Mamdani’s strong words in defense of immigrants in his election night victory speech are inspiring advocates on Long Island who hope the new mayor of New York City can serve as a model for Long Island leaders. While Mamdani can't directly curb President Donald Trump’s federal immigration crackdown, the advocates said they were elated tha

Immigrant advocates say a man was pinned under the tire of a car during his arrest by ICE agents. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports. Credit: Newsday Studios; Osman Canales U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents hit the East End this week in a series of raids that immigrant advocates said were creating havoc and fear in the community amid a nationwide crackdown. On Wednesday in Westhampton, Edgar Tezen, 35, an immigrant from Guatemala, was partially pinned under the tire

Residents and local officials have issued sweeping condemnations of federal immigration policy this week in the wake of a November 5 sweep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that resulted in the arrest of 12 people whom the federal agency claims were in the United States illegally. Dozens of protesters lined Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays on Friday morning, November 7, decrying the arrests, carrying signs saying things like “Community Not Cruelty” and “Stop ICE,”

Glori Engel, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Freeport schools, in the high school's Chromebook Support Center. The district has accelerated its tech plans, adding computers and providing 750 students with hot spots so they can work at home, she said. Credit: James Carbone Long Island educators say the pandemic-era push to provide students with computers and apps for distance learning catapulted schools years ahead in their plans to incorporate t