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Officials in East Hampton, one of the wealthiest towns in New York’s Hamptons enclave, are trying to reassure locals that noncriminal employees and neighbors are not subject to detention under state law amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on known criminal aliens.
At a community meeting on Wednesday, local authorities told concerned residents they do not have the authority to detain suspected illegal aliens for civil immigration offenses but will comply with federal criminal warrants.
East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen told community members at a public meeting that law-abiding migrants should still call police to report any crimes or emergencies without fearing deportation. Criminals, however, will be arrested.
Larsen told Fox News Digital over the phone Friday that he called the meeting to address residents’ concerns and prevent any “chaos” that could grow out of confusion about enforcement in the community.
“People who wear this and put this on don’t interfere with other people who wear this and put this on because then people die,” he said. “You don’t step in front of an Immigration Enforcement officer in uniform with a gun and a badge who’s taking his action. That’s for attorneys to get involved in, and that is for policies and procedures through the state to get involved.”
Sarlo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on Friday.
Authorities said they wanted to make sure all residents, legal or not, are comfortable calling 911 in an emergency.
“I don’t want anybody getting hurt,” said Larsen, himself a former police chief. “You have somebody who’s undocumented, and they’re driving a car, and a police car is trying to pull them over for running a stop sign. And all of a sudden, this turns into a pursuit and somebody gets hurt or killed.”
He said police in East Hampton are focused on apprehending criminals, not checking the immigration status of everyone they run into.
“You’ve gotta feel comfortable calling the local police,” Larsen said. “I don’t want chaos in our community. We still have to function.”