OLA in the News

OLA Executive Director Minerva Perez fought back tears as East Hampton Village became the first municipality to pass a law aimed at boosting accountability in the event of federal immigration action. Jack Motz East Hampton Village has become the first municipality on the East End to enact a law, drafted by OLA of Eastern Long Island, that is meant to boost accountability in the event of federal immigration action. What the blueprint drafted by OLA aims to do, primarily, is e

Masked agent wearing a vest marked "POLICE ERO" during an action on Route 58 in Riverhead Tuesday, Dec. 29. RiverheadLOCAL/Courtesy photo Local residents at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting continued to push for Riverhead to act on legislation proposed by the East End Latino advocacy group OLA to protect public safety during federal immigration enforcement activity. Several speakers took the podium to urge local officials to adopt or at least publicly consider the proposed local

East Hampton Village Hall, seen here in a 2016 photo. Credit: Gordon M. Grant East Hampton Village on Wednesday became the first government on the East End to ban its police department from cooperating with federal agencies on civil immigration enforcement. The law, approved by the village board in a 5-0 vote, prohibits village police from entering into Section 287(g) agreements with the Department of Homeland Security. Those agreements allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enfo

East Hampton Town Hall. The proposal also would require town and village police departments to notify newly created task forces about ICE activities if their officers were called to respond to a raid. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr. East Hampton town and village are advancing legislation to bar police from cooperating with federal agencies on civil immigration enforcement — becoming the first East End municipalities to back the proposal. The proposal would also require police

Organizacíon Latino Americana (OLA) of Eastern Long Island recently proposed a law that seeks accountability and transparency regarding federal immigration action. It was first introduced for consideration by OLA and director Minerva Perez in February to East End municipalities that have their own police departments. Written so that towns and villages can adapt it to suit their needs, the proposed law was drafted by former State Assemblyman (and current OLA board member) Fre

A proposed law by Organizacíon Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island that seeks accountability and transparency regarding federal immigration action on the East End was first introduced to municipalities that have their own police departments in February to consider. In the two months since an initial meeting with officials from East End towns and villages, municipalities have made varying degrees of progress on the proposed law. The base version of the law, which was draft

Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA Eastern Long Island, seen at an Express Sessions panel in November, spoke to the Southampton Village Board on Tuesday, March 24. DANA Organización Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island Executive Director Minerva Perez spoke to the Southampton Village Board on Tuesday, March 24, about a proposed law that the organization has been circulating to municipalities across the East End regarding federal immigration enforcement. The proposed

Read a copy of the East Hampton Village draft law here. East Hampton Village officials have lent their support to legislation promoted by OLA of Eastern Long Island that seeks to foster accountability for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that has swept the area over the past month, making the village the first municipality on the East End to move the law forward. This comes as OLA has continued its blitz of East End board meetings, including the East Hampton Town

OLA’s proposed legislation asks local police to do one thing: keep the peace The tension in the air at the Riverhead Family Court recently wasn’t theoretical; it was tangible and deeply alarming. Imagine standing outside a local courthouse, watching a resident being pulled from a car by heavily armed, masked men. Now imagine the largest of those men turning toward a bystander who was simply documenting the scene, his thumb resting heavily on the trigger of a pepper spray can

Anita Boyer speaks at an East Hampton Village Board meeting on February 20. A proposed law drafted by Organización Latino Americana and former State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, which seeks to foster transparency and accountability during federal immigration enforcement actions in local towns and villages, is beginning to sweep across the East End. What the five-page resolution calls for, primarily, is the establishment of a series of procedures and training programs that would s

Masked federal agents detain a man on East Main Street in Riverhead Monday, Dec. 29, in one of several federal enforcement operations around town that resulted in at least three arrests, according to witnesses. RiverheadLOCAL/courtesy photo Key Points OLA urged Riverhead to consider a local law on public safety, transparency and accountability during ICE activity OLA urged Riverhead to consider a local law on public safety, transparency and accountability during ICE activity

Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, in her office in East Hampton. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr. A Latino advocacy group is pushing East End towns and villages to share reports about federal immigration activity with the public following recent arrests that have rattled the region. The proposal also seeks to empower East End police departments to check federal agents' identification and scan their vehicles — at times unmarked — using license plate

The Southold Town Board unanimously approved a Public Safety Task Force Tuesday following public pressure to address ICE activity in Greenport — including the detention of three longtime North Fork residents on Feb. 4. The latest sweep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — following recent activity across the East End — spurred Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, to call for the task force. Her organization has been circulating proposed

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

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

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

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