Nassau County Government Bruce Blakeman has carved out a key exemption to the county’s controversial masks ban — permitting native cops concerned in ICE raids and dealing undercover to nonetheless put on face coverings.
The prevailing regulation solely exempts public mask-wearing for non secular or well being causes, however Blakeman’s new govt order now offers federal, state and native law-enforcement officers the choice to put on masks throughout operations equivalent to drug and gang raids and shortly, immigration enforcement alongside ICE.
“Here in Nassau County, we respect our law enforcement officers,” Blakeman mentioned on the signing contained in the legislative constructing in Mineola on Friday. “And we have their back.”
The manager order comes as Nassau is gearing as much as absolutely launch its partnership with ICE. Ten detectives have been deputized for the work and are already educated and ready for the inexperienced mild.
Blakeman mentioned the aim of the order is to permit cops to masks up throughout sure police operations “when deemed necessary” to hide their identification to “protect the integrity of their mission” and to restrict any risk of retaliation towards them or their households.
The county govt first signed the masks ban into regulation in August, after the GOP-majority native legislature handed the invoice in response to anti-Israel protests throughout faculty campuses. The regulation makes it a misdemeanor crime to put on any face masking except for non secular or well being causes, punishable by a $1,000 effective or as much as a 12 months in jail.
The regulation instantly sparked a number of lawsuits which have thus far been unsuccessful at shutting it down, with courts citing the present exemptions written inside the laws as legitimate.
Blakeman’s govt order is successfully the alternative of a invoice proposed Wednesday in neighboring New York Metropolis that may stop any federal brokers from sporting masks and different face coverings whereas on the job.
Blakeman mentioned he signed his govt order with town’s invoice in thoughts — eager to clarify that he’ll proceed to be a companion in ICE’s operations within the space regardless of pushback from the state, the 5 boroughs and pending lawsuits from civil-rights teams.
“I think they’re out of their mind,” Blakeman mentioned concerning the metropolis’s proposal. “I think that they will destroy the city, and I think they will make law enforcement in the metropolitan area, including Nassau County, much more difficult.”
The suburb signed an settlement with ICE in February to deputize 10 detectives to allow them to work federally alongside ICE in serving to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
Nassau Democrats slammed Blakeman’s partnership with ICE and his govt order as politically motivated and known as the carve-out for police an act of contrition.
“This executive order is a quiet admission that his original law is most likely illegal,” Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton advised The Put up. “Democrats warned from Day One which Blakeman’s masks ban was imprecise, over-broad and extra centered on politics than public good.
“We proposed a clear, constitutional alternative focused on actual criminal conduct. Instead, the county executive chose a political headline over sound policy, and now he’s scrambling to patch the consequences.”
Blakeman fired again, “What I find troubling is the very same people that criticized our mask law are the same people that are saying law enforcement officers in the performance of their duty can’t wear a mask to protect their identity if they’re involved in a sensitive investigation.”
The county govt mentioned the masks ban was by no means meant to focus on regulation enforcement however to discourage agitators, who he beforehand known as “cowards” and claimed have been utilizing face coverings to keep away from accountability throughout protests.
