Representative Nick LaLota won’t be “unwinding a promise” made earlier this year to provide federal money to municipalities like East Hampton Town and Village, but on a visit to Sag Harbor Tuesday he again made it clear that as long as they have versions of an East End Public Safety and Accountability Law limiting participation with civil immigration enforcement on the books he will not fight to get them more federal dollars.
“If East Hampton wants to do its own thing and cordon itself off and call itself a sanctuary, it surely is within their legal discretion to do so, as well as in my discretion not to bring them any more money,” he said after a press conference at the Sag Harbor Village Police Station, where he presented Mayor Tom Gardella and Robert Drake, the village police chief, with a check for $206,751, enough for approximately three new police cruisers.
“By bringing them money and by them accepting money, they accept that there is a minimum bare level of cooperation communication between the feds and the locals,” he said of East Hampton after the press conference. “If they don’t want to be a part of that, that’s their discretion, but they don’t get to cash the check and give us the middle finger and say they’re not going to help us.”
He was continuing a line of conversation that began with the mayor before the check presentation, when he said, “If you have a license plate reader, we want the information sometimes. . . . You’re not going to impede progress. You’re not going to post on your website: ‘They’re having this activity.’ That just invites the disruption.”
Among other things, the Public Safety and Accountability laws prohibit East Hampton Town or Village from cooperating or participating in civil immigration enforcement actions in concert with the federal government.
“I think the law was set up for political purposes,” said Mayor Gardella. “People might have a difference of opinion, like you say, but that’s how I feel.”
Sag Harbor has not passed a similar law, and Mr. LaLota was happy to be there on Tuesday to support its police department.
“It’s so great to be in the great Village of Sag Harbor, presenting another check to another municipality here in Suffolk County to ensure two things: One, we help keep property tax increases to a minimum and at the same time we’re delivering good federal money to our awesome cops in uniform who do a dangerous, important job every day,” he said in the sunlit parking lot at the station.
“These are like the cops’ offices every given day,” he said, gesturing toward a police cruiser. “They’re running all the time, helping patrol this awesome beautiful area, keeping our residents and visitors safe. . . . They need this good equipment to ensure that they can do that tough job. It’s my responsibility in Washington to help bring some of these federal dollars back home.”
In 2026, Mr. LaLota said he worked “darned hard” to bring $27.1 million back to the First Congressional District for public safety, road repair, and water quality initiatives.
That total, he said, was the third highest amount in New York’s 26 congressional districts. He predicted that in 2027, his district would benefit more than any other. “We’re getting to be number one in 2027,” he said. “We have it teed up right now; we’re going to have in excess of $40 million.”
“Some of our vehicles are aging out and these funds are going to go right to replacing those vehicles,” said Mayor Gardella. “A police car, emergency service vehicles, they need to start up quick and they’re on the go 24/7. So, they need to be replaced more often than not.”
“We serve year-round residents, a busy business district, and a community whose population and activity increases dramatically during the summer months,” Chief Drake said as a line of traffic snaked past the police station. “Having dependable vehicle equipment available to our officers is critical in meeting those demands.”
“This mayor endorsed my opponent in 2024,” Mr. LaLota said, pointing at Mayor Gardella after the press conference. “That didn’t prevent me from bringing $200,000 to his village this time around. There’s plenty of jurisdictions. I lose significantly on the East End. I’m still bringing that money. It’s not that I’m trying to exercise my political preference on every issue with everybody. But we live in a moment in time in America where we have 20 million people in this country illegally and looking the other way is not the option. Print some of that, please.”
“The fact is, Congressman LaLota has never provided federal funding to East Hampton Village,” East Hampton Mayor Jerry Larsen said in a text. “And we certainly don’t need funding if the price is abandoning a policy we adopted to protect public safety and maintain trust within our community.”
“When you bar cooperation between the local law enforcement and the federal ones, and I’m not talking about conscripting local cops to knock on doors to enforce immigration law, that’s not what we’re talking about, nobody should think that’s what this is,” Mr. LaLota said. “The 287g agreements kind of relate to that. That’s not what’s on the table right now. What’s on the table is: I want my local village and town police departments to have the ability to transport a criminal illegal to a local ICE facility if it’s in the community’s best interest. I want a local village or town police department to share their license plate reader information with the feds if the feds ask about it. I want the local P.D. to secure a perimeter around an enforcement operation, so we don’t have a Minnesota-like incident. And I think I’m right on this, because all but two Long Island municipalities have taken my side. There’s only two, and you have a paper that covers that jurisdiction, so I get it.”
“Our law does not prevent ICE or any other federal agency from enforcing federal immigration law,” texted Mayor Larsen. “Federal agents remain free to do their jobs. What we will not do is turn our local police officers into federal immigration agents or involve village personnel in civil immigration enforcement in ways that we believe could create fear, confusion, and unnecessary disruption in our community.”
“Congressman LaLota says we shouldn’t be able to ‘cash the check’ while disagreeing with him. But these aren’t his checks. East Hampton residents pay federal taxes just like residents everywhere else in his district. We will not be intimidated, and we will not change a lawful policy simply to satisfy a member of Congress. I stand by our decision.”
“I would suggest that the leaders of East Hampton Town and Village rethink their policies and recognize that everybody elsewhere has rejected these initiatives, has chosen to have a bare minimum of cooperation and communication with the feds on a chaotic issue,” Mr. LaLota said. “Nobody asks for 10 to 20 million people to be in this country illegally, but that’s the case, and we as a community need to figure out how to deal with it.”
“Congressman LaLota is clearly focused on campaign season,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in a text later. “When he is ready to join us in focusing on addressing the real issues facing the residents of East Hampton, our door will be open.”
