Less Than 5% of Immigrants Detained in Blakeman-ICE Deal Had Violent Records, Data Shows

A Newsday investigation into Nassau County’s collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has uncovered that less than 5% of immigrants detained at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow had convictions for violent crimes. This starkly contradicts former President Donald Trump’s repeated assertion that ICE’s mission is to root out the “worst of the worst.”

According to data obtained through a lawsuit by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by Newsday, out of approximately 3,200 immigrants held from February 2025 to March 2026, only 147 had violent convictions. These included mostly misdemeanor and felony assault, robbery, and sex offenses, with just seven cases involving homicide. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of detainees had no criminal convictions or charges at all, a rate higher than the national average for ICE detainees.

Immigration attorney George Terezakis called the findings “confirmation that they’re not really going after the worst of the worst. They’re just going after anybody.” This blunt assessment highlights a growing pattern of ICE’s overreach, where enforcement sweeps ensnare nonviolent immigrants, undermining claims of public safety priorities.

Despite these facts, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman staunchly defended the partnership, asserting that law enforcement had arrested violent immigrants “without raiding churches, schools, day-care centers or hospitals.” However, Blakeman declined to address previous statements suggesting the partnership was not intended to target law-abiding immigrants with community ties.

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, noted the stark discrepancy between ICE’s public messaging and the reality. “If you look at their Twitter account, 95% of the people they're highlighting are people with violent criminal histories. When you look at the actual data, it’s completely the other way,” Bier said.

ICE spokesperson Chrissy Cuttita dismissed the Newsday data, claiming the agency was “unable to verify [the] data and where it was sourced from.” She reiterated the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to deporting “criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists.”

The investigation also revealed troubling practices in detention duration. Nassau County continues to hold immigrants beyond the 72-hour legal limit set for temporary holding at the East Meadow jail. Since a December 2025 report exposing this violation, 50 detainees were still held longer than three days, though none exceeded four days. Blakeman’s office did not respond to inquiries about these ongoing breaches.

Financially, the partnership has been lucrative for Nassau County. The county receives $195 per detainee per night and has been reimbursed between $1.28 million and $1.8 million by the federal government. Additional payments cover guards and transportation costs, making the jail a convenient hub for ICE operations in the region—especially since neighboring Suffolk County limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

This investigation exposes the reality behind the Blakeman-ICE partnership as one that prioritizes arrest numbers over public safety, detaining many immigrants without violent histories and raising serious questions about civil rights and accountability. It underscores the urgent need to scrutinize immigration enforcement practices that perpetuate fear and injustice under the guise of protecting communities.