{"id":8367,"date":"2026-06-21T21:52:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/long-island-town-renews-ice-contract-for-shooting-range\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T21:52:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:52:55","slug":"long-island-town-renews-ice-contract-for-shooting-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/long-island-town-renews-ice-contract-for-shooting-range\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Island Town Renews ICE Contract for Shooting Range"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Islip Town Council voted 4-1 last week to extend its partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as New York Post<\/em> reports. The arrangement permits ICE agents and dozens of other federal, state, and local agencies to use the taxpayer-funded gun range in Suffolk County.<\/p>\n

The contract, which has existed for approximately twenty years, will remain in effect through June 30, 2028, with an option for a three-year extension. The GOP-majority council approved the renewal despite mounting pressure from immigration advocacy groups.<\/p>\n

New Language Limits Use<\/h2>\n

Council members added language to the resolution specifying that the range may not be used for detention, confinement, processing, transportation, housing, administrative operations, or any non-training governmental purpose, according to the Islip Town Board.<\/p>\n

Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter<\/strong> emphasized in a statement that the resolution authorizes Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officials to utilize the town’s gun range exclusively for firearms qualification and training purposes.<\/p>\n

Critics dismissed the new restrictions as meaningless window dressing, noting the facility had not been used for such purposes previously.<\/p>\n

Democrat Opposition<\/h2>\n

State Assemblyman Phil Ramos<\/strong>, an Islip Democrat, condemned the decision in a statement expressing extreme disappointment that the town renewed the agreement despite overwhelming concerns from residents, advocates, and community leaders.<\/p>\n

Ramos argued that when local government provides facilities and support to an agency that has caused fear, family separation, and civil rights concerns in immigrant communities, the matter transcends routine administration.<\/p>\n

Jorge Guadr\u00f3n<\/strong>, the lone Democratic board member, cast the sole vote against renewal. He had previously attempted to terminate the federal contract in August but was defeated.<\/p>\n

Controversy Erupts<\/h2>\n

The training arrangement first generated controversy in July when ICE agents were observed using the facility, triggering outrage from opponents who have joined a nationwide movement to curtail the agency over alleged abuses.<\/p>\n

Carpenter defended the facility at the time, noting that the town’s rifle range is among very few such facilities on Long Island and serves a vital role in training individuals from law enforcement agencies including Nassau County Police, Sheriffs and District Attorney’s office, U.S. Treasury, Farmingdale Police Department, Amtrak, and New York State Park Police.<\/p>\n

Since July, protesters from the local advocacy organization Islip Forward have attended multiple town meetings demanding termination of the agreement.<\/p>\n

Activists Vow to Continue Fight<\/h2>\n

A small group of protesters attended Tuesday’s meeting but did not make public comments or disruptions.<\/p>\n

Islip Forward founder Ahmad Perez<\/strong> told New York Post<\/em> that while deeply disappointed by the vote, the fight does not end there. He stated that no amount of contractual language can change the reality that the agreement associates the town with an agency that has torn families apart and spread fear throughout immigrant communities.<\/p>\n

With information from New York Post<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Long Island town voted 4-1 to renew a decades-old agreement allowing ICE agents to train at a municipal shooting range despite opposition from activists and Democratic officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":8366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[3021,264,3443,3441,7831,7830,209],"nfg_topic":[135],"class_list":["post-8367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ice","tag-immigration-enforcement","tag-islip","tag-long-island","tag-shooting-range","tag-suffolk-county","tag-united-states","nfg_topic-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8367"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=8367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}