Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has carved out a key exemption to the county’s controversial mask ban — allowing local cops involved in ICE raids and working undercover to still wear face coverings.
The existing law only exempts public mask-wearing for religious or health reasons, but Blakeman’s new executive order now gives federal, state and local law-enforcement officers the option to wear masks during operations such as drug and gang raids and soon, immigration enforcement alongside ICE.
“Here in Nassau County, we respect our law enforcement officers,” Blakeman said at the signing inside the legislative building in Mineola on Friday. “And we have their back.”
The executive order comes as Nassau is gearing up to fully launch its partnership with ICE. Ten detectives have been deputized for the work and are already trained and waiting for the green light.
Blakeman said the purpose of the order is to allow cops to mask up during certain police operations “when deemed necessary” to conceal their identity to “protect the integrity of their mission” and to limit any possibility of retaliation against them or their families.
The county executive first signed the mask ban into law in August, after the GOP-majority local legislature passed the bill in response to anti-Israel protests across college campuses. The law makes it a misdemeanor crime to wear any face covering unless for religious or health reasons, punishable by a $1,000 fine or up to a year in jail.
The law immediately sparked multiple lawsuits that have so far been unsuccessful at shutting it down, with courts citing the existing exemptions written within the legislation as valid.
Blakeman’s executive order is effectively the opposite of a bill proposed Wednesday in neighboring New York City that would prevent any federal agents from wearing masks and other face coverings while on the job.
Blakeman said he signed his executive order with the city’s bill in mind — wanting to make clear that he will continue to be a partner in ICE’s operations in the area despite pushback from the state, the five boroughs and pending lawsuits from civil-rights groups.
“I think they’re out of their mind,” Blakeman said about the city’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 agreement with ICE in February to deputize 10 detectives so they can work federally alongside ICE in helping detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
Nassau Democrats slammed Blakeman’s partnership with ICE and his executive order as politically motivated and called the carve-out for police an admission of guilt.
“This executive order is a quiet admission that his original law is most likely illegal,” Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton told The Post. “Democrats warned from Day One that Blakeman’s mask ban was vague, over-broad and more focused 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 back, “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 executive said the mask ban was never meant to target law enforcement but to deter agitators, who he previously called “cowards” and claimed were using face coverings to avoid accountability during protests.
New York Post: Nassau County will allow cops to wear face masks for ICE raids, undercover work: ‘We have their back’
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