Perez Discusses OLA Law With Southampton Village Board
- Dan Stark
- Mar 25
- 2 min read
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 law, which was drafted by OLA and former State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, calls for increased transparency and the establishment of procedures and requirements for local law enforcement officers in the event of encountering ICE agents on the East End.
“This law clarifies what local law enforcement can’t do,” Perez said. “And it also expresses very clearly what towns and villages can do to uphold the highest level of public safety when that is being broken, and we’ve seen that been broken.”
Perez explained to the board that the proposal came from the organization’s growing concerns about public safety as ICE agents have been spotted more frequently on the East End, specifically those involved in random raids instead of targeted ones looking for specific people. Perez noted that these concerns are not just from immigrants but those who are “just simply confused about who does what when an agency comes to town and breaks public safety.”
The law was first presented to a group of elected officials, police officers and lawyers on February 26 to discuss the law, which nobody representing Southampton Village was able to attend.
At this meeting, multiple people expressed their concern about one of the law’s original provisions, which would have required law enforcement to request identification from those claiming to by ICE agents, saying that it may be viewed as confrontational. This part has since been taken out, with the law now saying that local law enforcement officers have the right to request identification to ensure that someone isn’t impersonating an agent.
Perez said that getting all the municipalities together in one space was important due to the urgency of the situation.
“It was important to present this all at once, because we don’t necessarily have a lot of time,” she said. “And when we see these raids that are happening on the East End of Long Island, which have happened in Hampton Bays, Westhampton, Greenport [and] Riverhead, it’s important to understand this is not something that’s happening somewhere else. This is not Minneapolis — it’s here, it still is affecting our towns and our villages and the people who live here.”
Perez also discussed putting together a plan to identify areas within municipalities to deem sensitive areas, such as hospitals and schools.
Though the proposed law is focused on ICE agents, Perez told the board that the legislation is not “an anti-ICE doctrine” but rather something that is “simply looking at face value [about] what we have experienced on the East End of Long Island.” She also emphasized that one of the main goals of the law is to support local law enforcement.
Mayor Bill Manger said that he will discuss the proposal with Village Police Chief Suzanne Hurteau and Village Attorney Eileen Powers to review it and “see what we can do.”
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