By Scott Brinton
The re-election of Hempstead Mayor Waylyn Hobbs Jr. over challenger Kevin Boone leaves open a question of whether the village will cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they seek to carry out President Trump’s executive orders calling for mass detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Boone, who lost his trustee seat in running for the mayoralty, had pledged during a meeting with Hempstead-area immigrant activists in the week leading to the March 18 election that he would, if elected, sign an ordinance prohibiting village cooperation with ICE.
Boone’s statement came in response to a question by Nadia Marin-Molina, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. She asked whether Boone would allow the Hempstead Village Police Department to collaborate with ICE in detaining undocumented immigrants. She noted the village had no written policy prohibiting such cooperation.
Under current policy, Marin-Molina said, “any individual police officer can call immigration.”
Boone ran on the People Over Party United ticket with incumbent Trustee Clariona Griffith and newcomer Kevin Ramirez. They joined him at the meeting with the activists, held at a bar/restaurant in downtown Hempstead. The Long Island Advocate sat in on the session.
“Everybody should be treated fairly,” Boone said. “We don’t feel anyone should be targeted, especially by the police. The police are there to serve and protect in ways that are not harassing.”
Three votes would be needed on the five-member Hempstead Village Board to pass an ordinance prohibiting ICE cooperation. Election of Boone’s three-member ticket would have ensured that the measure would have received a hearing at village hall and likely would have passed, as Griffith and Ramirez had also pledged to vote for such an ordinance.
Like Boone, Griffith and Ramirez were defeated in Tuesday’s election, losing to challengers Tanya Carter and William Whitaker.
Two phone calls to Hobbs’s office seeking comment on the question of potential ICE cooperation, one before the election and one after, were not returned.
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