To The Editor:
In a letter dated July 16, 2026, Congressman LaLota addressed myself and members of our team along with several others trying to justify threats against our East End municipalities. The congressman continues to avoid the very simple question we have posed to him directly: “What are the specific provisions of the local law that the Congressman opposes?”
Pictured Above: Ms. Perez addressed a crowd of concerned North Forkers during the ICE killings in Minneapolis this winter.
The Public Safety Law that we are urging — and will continue to urge — all Towns and Villages to adopt is a logical next step to safeguarding our towns and villages from chaos and panic that run through our shared communities during random immigration raids.
Where does our law stop local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement when required by law?
Neither of these concerns exist within the Public Safety Law. Our congressman is creating mistruths and confusion for his personal gain.
It is a shame that our congressman is continuing to sow disunity among East End residents and municipalities. He is not interested in facts or the public safety of our beautiful region.
By the use of name calling, threats, misinformation and other immature and damaging tactics, he is making it clear that his only interest is in creating false talking points for an election. This is a dangerous use of his platform.
Facts: All of our local East End municipalities must abide by New York state law. State law includes the ban of 287g. All other arguments are moot at this point.
Facts: OLA’s public safety law was created to make sure that all community members have a clear understating of local roles and responsibilities during ICE actions that have caused panic, injury, and deaths most recently.
Facts: OLA’s public safety law embraces the important relationship our community members must have with local police. The law highlights this by asking for more presence not less.
Facts: OLA’s public safety law clearly states that nothing in the local law shall interfere with the proper exercise of federal immigration enforcement in accordance with federal law.
Facts: OLA’s public safety law states local law enforcement will not be prohibited from cooperating with ICE when required by law. The local law does not prohibit local cooperation in connection with the investigation of criminal activities.
Facts are only inconvenient to those who wish to create disunity for personal gain. OLA stands for the truth and for the role of local governments to review facts as well of the needs of their constituents to adopt laws that best serve their public without threats and falsehoods generated for personal gain.
Minerva Perez
Executive Director, OLA
The American Dream
Dear Editor,
My wife and I got married in 1968, in our mid-twenties. The one-bedroom apartment we rented cost 13% of our combined gross income. After two years, we bought a house in Port Washington. Today, most people in Suffolk County can’t find a house they can afford.
Those who believe in upward mobility and feel hopeful about the future are the people who were born somewhere else and chose to come here, not those who were born and raised here.
The American Dream is not something most people have given up on. They have given up on the idea that it belongs to everyone equally. That is a meaningful distinction, and it points directly at the failure that actually needs addressing.
The failure is that for decades, politicians have found it more useful to weaponize the American Dream than to expand it. They have changed it from a vision of what America could be for every person who lives here, into a talking point that wins primaries. People who believe the American Dream is achievable are harder to mobilize with fear than the people who believe it is a competition with a limited number of winners.
Charles Gueli
Laurel
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Keep up the good work.I agree with what you were saying. What is OLA?