Latino Group Pushes Riverhead to Adopt OLA Resolution After ICE Activity

After an uptick in reported ICE activity on the East End, OLA of Eastern Long Island presented a locally drafted "East End Public Safety and Accountability" resolution to the Riverhead Town Board on March 1, pressing town leaders to create local task forces to respond to immigration enforcement. The presentation came as Riverhead’s Hispanic and Latino residents make up roughly 16% of the town’s population, a demographic OLA says the resolution is intended to protect.

The draft local law was crafted by former New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele and, as presented, acknowledges federal authority over immigration while asserting that federal power is not unlimited. OLA circulated the proposal to town and village boards across the five East End towns — East Hampton, Southampton, Riverhead, Southold and Shelter Island — seeking passage by each municipality and asking officials to report ICE activity and stand up local accountability mechanisms.

Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, told the board the organization's aim is broad public-safety protections. "OLA is interested in uplifting public safety and accountability for everyone living in, working in, and driving through our beautiful and peaceful East End," Perez said when presenting the legislation and circulating the resolution among towns. Perez also criticized Riverhead's prior emergency order, saying, "Just by hanging on to this emergency order, the message is not a forward thinking message that Riverhead is giving" and stressed the need for humane, orderly processes around migration.

Riverhead officials, however, maintained a cautious posture. Mr. Halpin said on a phone call on Feb. 20 that the Town Board was not considering the legislation at that time and had not planned to bring it to a work session. "I love that we have the opportunity for people to express themselves and for us to listen. I'm not listening just to respond, I'm listening to understand," he said, adding, "I care about people, there's a concern there, and I believe that they were heard and understood — it's a step." Mr. Halpin acknowledged the town's Hispanic Development Empowerment & Education Committee was not formed with public safety responsibilities in mind and said he would like to discuss the matter further with that group's members.

Speakers at the March 1 meeting framed the issue in stark terms. Ms. Flanagan told the board, "We see our immigrant neighbors terrorized, chased, abused and disappeared. We see our students terrified for their parents. We can't allow one group of people in our community to be terrorized this way," and urged town leaders to do more to keep all residents safe. East End organizer Anita Boyer has mobilized protests and has urged residents to turn out to support the resolution, describing it as "written to be purposefully non-partisan."

The push from OLA comes amid legal scrutiny and civil-rights concern tied to Riverhead's earlier emergency order. NYCLU spokesperson Kaye Dyja said the order "maintain[s] the unconstitutional goal of preventing recently arrived immigrants from making those locations their home," and LatinoJustice has confirmed it is investigating the order. Commentators have criticized the town's language as contributing to a divisive political dialogue.

OLA, a 501(c)(3) public charity based in East Hampton, lists federal tax ID 43-1997489 and provides contact at mperez@olaofeasternlongisland.org, phone (631) 899-3441 and text (631) 500-5001; the group's offices are listed at 2 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, with a mailing address of P.O. Box 278, Sagaponack, NY 11962. Riverhead has not scheduled a work session to take up the proposal; whether the Town Board will place the Thiele-drafted resolution on a formal agenda remains unresolved as advocates press other East End boards to act.