OLA's Proposed Legislation

EAST END PUBLIC SAFETY & ACCOUNTABILITY LOCAL LAW 2026

Register with OLA to join the campaign for proposed legislation:

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Talking point suggestions from OLA:

* We are one East End community. We must stand together as one community.

*This local law was created by a lawmaker with 30 years experience representing the East End

as State Assemblyman: Fred Thiele, who recently retired, serves on the Board of OLA. The law

is written in a way to serve East End Towns and Villages in a unique and adaptable way. The

local law was crafted to avoid delay.

* We need to step beyond statements of condemnation to establish a local law that will build

back confidence in our emergency response systems that are not prepared for these dangerous

and chaotic ICE actions that we have seen numerous times on the East End.

* While many community members may feel that all ICE actions should cease, it cannot be the

aim of this local law to end all ICE actions as it is beyond the bounds of local town and village

authority.

* Local law enforcement does not have the power to stop a federal agent (someone employed

by the federal government) from conducting an ICE action.

* Calling for this local law to do what it cannot misses the point and threatens to keep us all

stuck in "statements and studies" instead of “action and accountability”.

* Feeling and expressing outrage is not enough at this point unless we can also do the hard

and collaborative work of creating actions and structures of accountability that protect our

communities in meaningful ways.

* This revision of OLA’s Public Safety and Accountability Law has come about after many

significant conversations with town and local leadership, lawyers, community members, and

other non-profits. We have approached this with as much input and dialogue as possible. The

urgency to act is now.

* This local law focuses on what towns and villages (with their own police departments) CAN do

to create effective emergency responses that better support schools, hospitals, daycare centers,

elder centers, etc during random ICE raids.

* Local police are not the sole focus of this local law: Town and village leadership accepting

responsibility for all emergency response to growing East End random raids is required via

coordinated emergency planning.

* Local police departments on the East End report to Town and Village boards as their acting

police commissioners.

* Local Police departments across our East End are the entities that respond to safety and

emergency concerns.

* We rely on local police protection and response during all threats to public safety, however due

to the nature of these raids and unprecedented actions, it is not correct for our own local police

agencies to shoulder the burden of navigating these heightened public safety needs without

guidance by Towns and Villages in the form of local law.

* Why it’s necessary to create a local law: A local law will connect accountability to action while

defining roles and emergency plans for each town and village.

* This local law seeks to acknowledge the power to protect local communities from ruptures in

public safety caused by random warrantless ICE raids that create fear, panic, chaos, and injury.

* Police sharing immediate knowledge of a raid before or during raid (if they have this

knowledge) with town and village leadership is meant as quickest action taken to allow towns

and villages to engage in coordinated and collaborative response to public safety emergency.

* It may be that a community member, institution, or organization informs police or town directly

of a pending or active raid - the new law would require towns and villages to verify quickly and

go into emergency action.

* When hundreds of children don't attend school, when roads become less safe to walk near or

drive, when a trip to get morning coffee could turn into an act of violence, when allowing your

teenager to walk to an after school activity threatens harassment or warrantless arrest, when a

community once peaceful, safe, and thriving lives on edge - our shared public safety is broken.

* It is time for action that better supports and protects all members of this East End community.

*Why not stay silent, it may get worse if we create a law or more community conversation?

Historically this never has been true. The best protection against disruption of public safety – is

a clearly stated law that includes roles, responsibilities, and consequences. Having this in place

and clearly communicating it to town and village employees, police departments, emergency

services, community members, institutions, nonprofits, houses of faith, etc. – is a unified act that

builds the trust needed and exhibits the commitment to maintaining a level of care and safety for

all town and village community members.

*Verbalize examples of public safety working well, trust being rebuilt and strengthened, children

and elders knowing who the helpers are no matter what is happening. Schools, healthcare,

houses of faith, and nonprofits working together with towns and villages to clearly message in

unison the care and compassion and the safety plan. Envision what it looks like. This vision is

what will make the hard work worth it. The vision we can all create for a better safety response

and a better future is what our community needs.

highlighting not by OLA

Draft legislation

REVISED 3-2-26

A LOCAL LAW enacting amendments to the Town/Village Code in order to

promote public safety, peace, and good order

Be it enacted by the Town/Village Board of the Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] as

follows:

Section 1. Legislative Findings.

The Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] hereby acknowledges the authority of the

federal government to enact and enforce federal immigration laws pursuant to its

constitutionally granted authority. The Town/Village further recognizes that state and

local governments are bound by the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and are

pre-empted from enacting state and local laws that infringe on the federal powers

regarding immigration. However, under our federal system, that power is not unlimited.

The Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] further recognizes that under the Tenth

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, those powers not given to the federal government,

nor forbidden to the states, belong to the states, local governments, and the people.

Among those powers reserved to the states and to local governments is the police

power. The police power is a critical power reserved by the states in order to protect

public safety, peace, and good order. The police power of local governments in New

York State is enumerated in the State Constitution and the Municipal Home Rule Law.

The Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] has been blessed with a professional

police department that has done an outstanding job in protecting the safety, peace, and

good order of its residents. Because of their efforts, the Town/Village of [INSERT

TOWN] is one of the safest communities in the nation. The public is highly supportive of

these efforts and the Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] enjoys excellent police-

community relations.

The Town/Village Board of the Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] recognizes that

across the nation, the federal government through the activities of United States

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS),

Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), including the Department of Justice (DOJ), has

launched unprecedented immigration enforcement operations. Such efforts have been

reported and confirmed as occurring across eastern Long Island. Because of the lack of

transparency and accountability, these operations in some parts of the country have

resulted in rampant fear, disruptions to public safety, violence, injury, and even death

undermining the local police power.

The Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN], under its constitutionally recognized

police power, bears the primary responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of its

residents. Under the State Constitution and the State Municipal Home Rule Law, the

Town/Village possesses broad authority to enact policies that promote public safety,

peace and good order. The Town/Village also possesses broad authority to establish

policies for the administration of its police department that promote these goals. Finally,

the Town/Village has the duty and responsibility to protect the constitutional rights of its

residents, including but not limited to the right of free speech and to petition its

government.

Therefore, the Town/Village Board of the Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] by

this local law hereby enacts policies to foster transparency and accountability to the

public relating to immigration enforcement operations conducted within the

Town/Village. This local law exercises its authority under the police power and enacts

policies intended to protect public safety, peace, and good order, where appropriate,

without interfering with the legitimate activities of the federal government with regard to

its immigration enforcement powers.

Section 2. Federal Authority Recognition and Preemption Avoidance.

A. The Town/Village of [INSERT TOWN] acknowledges the authority of the federal

government to enforce federal immigration laws within the United States, including

within the town's/village’s jurisdiction.

B. Nothing in this local law shall be construed to prohibit, restrict, or interfere with the

proper exercise of federal immigration enforcement authority in accordance with federal

law.

C. This local law is intended to operate within the town's/village’s legitimate police

powers to protect public safety and ensure transparency in law enforcement operations

within its jurisdiction.

Section 3. Definitions.

A. The following definitions shall apply to this local law:

1. “Town/Village Law Enforcement Officer” shall mean any Town/Village “police

officer” as that term is defined in Section 1.20 of the State Criminal Procedure

Law.

2. “Designated Town/Village Property” shall mean any property or facility owned,

leased, controlled, or operated by the Town, designated by the Town/Village

Board, as likely to be used by a federal agency for an immigration enforcement

operation.

3. “Immigration Enforcement Operation” shall mean any operation conducted by a

federal agency that has as its main objective the identification or apprehension of

a person or persons in order to subject them to civil immigration detention,

removal, or deportation proceedings or removal or deportation from the United

States, or to criminally prosecute a person or persons for offenses related to

immigration status.

4. “Federal Agency” shall mean but not be limited to the United State Customs and

Border Patrol (CBP), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigrations

and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

5. “Federal Law Enforcement Officer” any law enforcement officer of a federal

agency.

Section 4. Federal Immigration Enforcement Activity Reporting Requirements.

A. Where town/village law enforcement officers respond to an incident involving a

federal agency conducting an immigration enforcement operation in the

town/village, the town/village police department shall report said incident to the

Town Supervisor’s Office/Village Mayor’s office.

B. The Town Supervisor’s Office/Village Mayor’s Office shall provide copies of such

reports to all members of the Town/Village Board no later than the next regularly

scheduled meeting of the board.

C. After providing copies of such reports to the Town/Village Board, the Town

Supervisor’s/Mayor’s Office shall make such reports available to the public,

consistent with the State Freedom of Information Act.

D. There shall be established by the Town/Village Board a Community Task Force

on Immigration Enforcement. The members of the Task Force shall be appointed

by the Town/Village Board and shall fully represent the full range of community

stakeholders with an interest in maintaining public safety during immigration

enforcement operations where no judicial warrants are produced. The

Town/Village shall consult with the Task Force concerning all relevant matters

regarding immigration enforcement operations within the Town/Village. The Task

Force shall also consider recommendations to the Town/Village Board regarding

policies necessary to insure the safety of the public, in response to these

immigration enforcement operations, including but not limited to continued safe

physical access by the public to buildings, facilities, and places that provide

essential services such as education, health care, human services,

transportation, and other essential services.

Section 5. Federal Immigration Enforcement Operations on Town/Village

Property Prohibited in Certain Cases.

A. No town officer, employee, or agent shall permit a federal agency to enter a

nonpublic area of a designated town/village property for the purposes of

conducting an immigration enforcement operation. The Town/Village Board, by

resolution, shall designate the properties subject to the provisions of this section.

Each designated property shall have clear signage stating the following: “In non-

public areas of this property, a judicial warrant is required for law enforcement

activities, and no voluntary consent may be solicited from any employee.”

B. This section shall not prevent compliance with a valid judicial warrant or order

authorizing entry or entry under exigent circumstances, or any other actions

required by law.

Section 6. Identification.

A. In order to provide for the orderly enforcement of Section 190.26 of the State

Penal Law (criminal impersonation in the first degree), town/village law

enforcement officers shall have the authority to request any unidentified person

engaged in an immigration enforcement action to provide their full name, agency

affiliation, and badge or identification number to the town/village law enforcement

officer.

B. It is the intent of this section that all law enforcement officers include their name

or badge number on their uniforms, where practicable.

Section 7. Enforcement.

A. The Town/Village Attorney, pursuant to a resolution of the Town/Village Board,

shall be authorized to institute an action in a court of competent jurisdiction

seeking appropriate judicial relief for the purposes of enforcing this local law and

enjoining or restraining any violations of this local law.

B. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any taxpayer domiciled within the

town/village, or any person aggrieved by a violation of this local law shall be

authorized to institute an action in a court of competent jurisdiction seeking

appropriate judicial relief for the purposes of enforcing this chapter and enjoining

or restraining any violations of this chapter.

Section 8. Construction.

A. Nothing in this local law shall prohibit town/village officers, employees, and

agents from cooperating with federal agencies in the investigation or prosecution

of criminal activity when required by law.

B. Nothing in this local law shall be construed to restrict compliance with federal or

state law where such compliance is mandatory.

Section 9. Severability.

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion of this local law is for

any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of

competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining

portions of this local law.

Section 10. Effective Date.

This local law shall take effect immediately upon its filing with the Secretary of State of

the State of New York and shall expire and be deemed repealed on July 1, 2029.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LoY2m51TJJQd3O5EwcXKLI1QK7sROBrT/view