Protesters Rally at Hempstead Village Hall Against ICE

Hundreds of protesters marched through Hempstead on Saturday, March 7, demanding an end to federal immigration enforcement operations that organizers say have upended life in Nassau County communities.

The rally began at the Home Depot on 172 Fulton St. and moved to Hempstead Village Hall, drawing demonstrators who carried signs and chanted slogans opposing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the region. The protest is part of a broader wave of opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that has produced demonstrations across Nassau and Suffolk counties since the president returned to the White House.

Civil rights attorney Fred Brewington singled out Home Depot during the demonstration, citing published reports that the retailer has served as a site of ICE activity. Home Depot says on its website that it does not coordinate with federal ICE agents and does not provide federal authorities access to its license plate reader data. Brewington did not hold back in his characterization of the current moment. “We need to push back against the fascist aspects taking over our country,” he said.

The protest unfolded against a backdrop of expanding federal enforcement infrastructure on Long Island. The Department of Homeland Security is currently leasing office space in Woodbury where 40 attorneys are operating. Earlier this month, reports surfaced that ICE had proposed opening a detention facility in Holtsville, a plan that the Town of Brookhaven moved to block.

Susan Gottehrer, director of the Nassau County chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, placed direct blame on Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman for the federal enforcement presence within county borders. “This county and Nassau County have become unrecognizable,” she said. Gottehrer described herself as outraged by the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.

Port Washington Rapid Response Network member David Chapman brought a personal dimension to the rally. Chapman was arrested while protesting ICE activity in October 2025 and spoke about that experience to the crowd. “I do this because I’m standing up against a repressive government that’s building concentration camps against America,” he said, calling ICE agents “goons” and saying residents would not accept federal enforcement tactics.

Hazel Leon, a Freeport resident who founded Así Vamos NY, addressed concerns about racial profiling of residents in Hempstead and across Nassau County. Her organization focuses on due process protections for immigrant community members. “Only the people save the people,” she said.

Brewington and other speakers led chants including “I say justice you say now” and “New York for All,” the latter referencing a proposed state bill that would place limits on the authority of immigration enforcement agents operating in New York.

The Trump administration has framed its enforcement posture as an economic and public safety issue. During his Feb. 24 State of the Union address, the president argued that what he described as open borders drive up medical bills, car insurance rates, rent, taxes and crime.

For Long Island taxpayers, the immigration debate carries financial dimensions that extend beyond rhetoric. The cost of leasing Woodbury office space for DHS attorneys, the potential construction and operation of a Holtsville detention facility had it moved forward, and the strain that enforcement operations place on local municipal resources all represent budget considerations that Nassau County officials have not fully addressed in public.

What local officials have spent on law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and whether Nassau County taxpayers are absorbing costs tied to ICE operations, remains an open question. County Executive Blakeman has not provided a detailed accounting of those expenditures.

Organizers said before the rally that the demonstration was about more than opposition to a single policy. “We must stand up against the continued criminalization of our immigrant neighbors,” they said.

With federal enforcement activity spreading across Nassau County and advocacy organizations mobilizing in response, the pressure on local officials to account for their role in that activity is building. Taxpayers deserve a full accounting of what their county is spending and what it is sanctioning.