ICE agents training at Suffolk gun range under controversial contract with Long Island town: ‘Dehumanizing'
The Post only learned about the deal after ICE agents were spotted at the range, prompting calls from local activists and state Assemblyman Phil Ramos, an Islip Democrat, to nix the contract — with the lawmaker blasting the agency as 'rogue.'
It is unclear when the behind-closed-doors deal was actually finalized.
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3 ICE agents are training at a taxpayer-funded gun range in Islip as part of a deal between Suffolk County and the Department of Homeland Security.
Google/Stephen Wicelinski
Ramos slammed the contract as 'dehumanizing.'
'I am deeply disappointed that such a decision was made in a community that proudly holds the highest concentration of Hispanic taxpayers in New York State outside of New York City,' he told The Post.
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Hispanics make up nearly 20% of the entire Islip population, according to the latest census numbers.
ICE agents are actively stopping people, Ramos said, at random in local neighborhoods and can't be treated like a typical federal agency. The lawmaker pointed to multiple lawsuits, alleged civil rights violations, and the wrongful arrest of a US citizen on Long Island with Hispanic roots as proof.
Town officials, however, said the deal is nothing groundbreaking — and revealed that similar contracts have been drawn up in the past allowing federal agents, including ICE, to use the range to train.
3 Activists and state Assemblyman Phil Ramos have called on Suffolk County to eliminate the 'dehumanizing' contract with ICE.
Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
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Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter, a Republican, said agreements with DHS go back to the early 2000s. ICE falls under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security.
'The Town's Rifle Range is one of the very few such facilities on Long Island and serves a vital role in the training of individuals from law enforcement agencies including but not limited to Nassau County Police, Sheriffs and DA … U.S. Treasury, Farmingdale Police Department and the NYS Park Police,' Carpenter said.
Partnerships like those, Carpenter said, help ensure law enforcement officers and federal agents operating in the area are properly and safely using their firearms and receiving training — accusing Ramos of attempting to politicize the matter and sparking distrust in law enforcement.
3 Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter said the county has had contracts with DHS going back to 2000.
Wayne Carrington
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Federal training partnerships with local facilities are not uncommon, and ICE is one of several DHS agencies that routinely conduct firearms training at regional ranges across the US.
But Ramos wasn't satisfied — and fired back that he doesn't need to create distrust in ICE because the agency has already accomplished that feat on its own.
'I don't believe many in our community find comfort in the explanation that the Town of Islip has been lending its facilities out to outside law enforcement agencies for years,' he said.
'If ICE is conducting firearms training at a town facility, then the Town of Islip is directly enabling those operations.'
The controversy surrounding the range comes just two weeks after Ramos clashed with Brentwood fire officials over ICE's use of a local firehouse parking lot as a makeshift base for immigration raids — an incident that escalated into a public standoff with accusations of intimidation against the chief.
The town has not responded to The Post's request for the DHS contract.
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