Protests over the recent detention of at least a dozen people by federal immigration agents in Hampton Bays and Westhampton continued to ripple across the South Fork last week — with dozens of angry residents flooding into the Southampton Town Board meeting on Wednesday and staging a demonstration in Westhampton on Friday. As reported on 27east.com, more than three dozen residents filled the Town Board meeting room on November 12, one week after ICE agents conducted sweeps in Hampton Bays and Westhampton, arresting 12 people on charges of entering the United States illegally. Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore said she empathized with those angered by the deportation wave and the way ICE conducts its work and sought to assure residents that no town officials — including the Southampton Town Police Department — were notified that the federal agents on their way.

“I understand there is concern and anxiety because of the ICE activities we saw in Hampton Bays and Westhampton last week, and the most difficult part is that there is no clear accurate information coming our way,” she said. The supervisor added, “While immigration enforcement is a federal matter outside the jurisdiction of this town government that does not mean that we are indifferent or powerless.”

Moore said she would send a letter to Senator Chuck Schumer and U.S. Representative Nick LaLota asking that the town be better informed of ICE activity within its borders.

Meanwhile, this past Friday morning, more than 50 protesters lined the streets of Westhampton calling for ICE to stay away from the region.

“I’m very upset at the constant news about the way immigrants are being treated, even though they’re such an integral part of our community on Long Island,” David Saunders said at the protest. “It’s a thrill for me to be able to stand out here and tell my neighbors that I support due process in America.”

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Suffolk County will face a worsening housing crisis unless it can eliminate barriers such as overly restrictive zoning and high costs that slow development and push up prices for houses and rental apartments, affordable housing advocates and builders said on Friday.

Carl MacGowan reports in NEWSDAY that about a dozen speakers at a hearing convened by the county's Welfare to Work Commission said efforts to bring down housing costs had been routinely stymied by bureaucratic hurdles and poor infrastructure, as well as community opposition that tied up housing proposals for years, leaving homeownership out of reach for many middle-class Suffolk residents.

"Suffolk County is facing one of the most severe housing crises in its history," Pilar Moya-Mancera, executive director of the Greenlawn nonprofit Housing Help, said at a news conference before the hearing in the county office complex in Hauppauge. "We cannot wait 10 more years for housing solutions."

The Welfare to Work Commission, an advisory board for the Suffolk County Legislature, called the hearing as it prepares a report looking at systemic impediments to developing affordable housing.

Commission chairman Richard Koubek said before the hearing the average Suffolk resident must make about $218,000 to afford a typical single-family home, or $90,000 to pay $2,000 monthly rent.

But many residents make far less, he said, citing licensed practical nurses who earn an average $57,670 annually and supermarket cashiers who make $39,520 a year.

"This has been a struggle for Long Islanders for years and years," Koubek said.

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Local entrepreneurs share their stories at the “The Business of Mattituck,” a presentation organized by the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association this evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Mattituck Park District headquarters at Veterans Beach. Tonight’s event is free to attend. All are welcome.

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A federal jury has ordered Suffolk County to pay $112 million in damages to hundreds of immigrants who were unlawfully detained in county jails at the request of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement between July 2014 and November 2018. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the jury verdict reached earlier this month found the county liable for $75 million in connection with the unlawful detention in violation of constitutional protection against detention without probable cause or a warrant signed by a judge.

The jury also found that the plaintiffs were denied adequate procedural due process in connection with their detention and fixed damages for that claim at $37 million.

Federal District Court Judge William Kuntz II...a 2011 Obama appointee...ruled in January that Suffolk County’s practice of holding detainees based only on federal civil detainer requests violated both the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the New York State Constitution. The court granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs.

Suffolk County appealed and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed the appeal ruling that the judgment being appealed from was not a final order. Now that there is a final order, an appeal is possible and will likely be taken.

The case, Orellana Castañeda et al. v. County of Suffolk and Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office et al., is a class-action lawsuit filed in 2017 on behalf of 674 plaintiffs by LatinoJustice PRLDEF and the law firm Winston & Strawn. It challenged Suffolk County’s practice of unlawfully holding individuals in county jails after they should have been released —because their bail had been posted or their case had been resolved — for the sole purpose of facilitating a direct handover to immigration enforcement authorities.

“This decision brings long-overdue accountability,” José Pérez, deputy general counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF said in a statement. “The jury confirmed what we have argued all along, that Suffolk County’s actions trampled the basic due process rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.”

The lawsuit does not address current county policy.

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Conservationists are pressing Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York to approve a ban on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs in state waters after she vetoed the same measure a year ago. Jon Hurdle reports in THE NY TIMES that supporters of the bill, which was passed by large majorities in both houses of the State Legislature last year and again in June, say New York must protect the ancient crustaceans, whose populations are declining in some places because of overfishing, loss of habitat and climate change, which floods beaches and warms oceans.

Reducing pressures on the crabs would help their ecological role, which includes providing food for migrating shore birds such as the red knot, a dwindling species that the federal government classified as threatened more than a decade ago.

The commercial fishing industry argues that a ban would wipe out livelihoods, damage local fisheries and ignore policies that have led the industry to reduce the number of crabs it uses for bait.

The bill would “devastate small, working fisheries that depend on horseshoe crab bait, particularly New York’s conch and American eel fisheries,” wrote Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, in a post for the publication National Fisherman in October. She praised Governor Hochul’s previous veto and urged her to do the same in response to the new bill.

The bill (S04289/A04997) passed the Assembly by 100 votes to 45, and the Senate by 43 votes to 16.

If the governor, a Democrat, signed the bill, New York would join New Jersey and Connecticut in stopping the fishing industry from taking the crabs, which are used as bait for catching other marine species, including the endangered American eel. Connecticut banned the harvest by ship or by hand starting in 2023. New Jersey’s moratorium began in 2008. New York’s version would also prevent the state’s fishing industry from taking the creatures for their blood, which is used by the pharmaceutical industry in testing for toxins in medical products including vaccines.

A report in September by the Maritime Aquarium, a nonprofit based in Connecticut that advocates environmental protection in Long Island Sound, said the population of horseshoe crabs in bays and harbors around the sound had been declining by 2 to 9 percent a year.

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The U.S. government is open again, but many low-income people are still waiting for federal benefits they count on. Colin Kinniburgh reports in New York Focus that the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program… HEAP…which mainly helps households cover their winter heating bills, is one of many federal assistance programs that were put on hold during the 43-day shutdown. New York typically starts enrollment in early November but delayed it indefinitely as the government shutdown dragged on and federal funds didn’t come through.

The stopgap bill President Donald Trump signed last Wednesday should allow the program to reopen, but it could still take weeks. When the Trump administration does actually disburse that funding, it remains unclear how much will reach New York.

Even if the administration sends states their share in the coming days, the state agency that manages the program in New York told New York Focus that it won’t be able to open HEAP applications until at least November 24. If funds arrive after that date, the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance will open the program within 48 hours of receiving them, a spokesperson said.

Denise Civiletti posts on Riverheadlocal.com that this year has already seen the highest numbers of gas and electricity shutoffs in the state due to nonpayment in at least 15 years, and some New Yorkers are worried about how they’ll keep the heat on.

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The Town of Southampton is considering a measure that would advance plans to redevelop the former Boardy Barn property in Hampton Bays into a boutique hotel. Alek Lewis reports in NEWSDAY that Southampton Town would allow "small scale" hotels, ranging from 16 to 65 rooms, in a new hotel development overlay zoning district along certain stretches of Montauk and Sunrise highways, where hotels are not currently permitted. Hotel projects would be approved by the town board on a case-by-case basis.

At least one developer is poised to take immediate advantage of the legislation.

Hotelier Robert Salvatico announced earlier this year that he and business partners were planning to redevelop the former Boardy Barn site on Montauk Highway into a 68-room hotel with a restaurant and bar. Vozi Realty LLC of Garden City purchased the Boardy Barn property in 2022 after its closure in 2021.

Salvatico told Newsday in April that he would petition the town board for a zoning change to allow the project to advance.

Salvatico said in an interview with Newsday last week that “Hampton Bays would make a great place for a modestly scaled, appropriately styled hotel,” like the Hotel Indigo his family operates in Riverhead.

“This is not geared to be only seasonal. This is geared to be a year-round contributor to the community,” he added.

The hotel project is estimated to cost about $20 million, Salvatico said.

If adopted, the overlay zone would be an be an “important change” to the town’s commercial zoning code, Supervisor Maria Moore told NEWSDAY.

“Our goal is to promote small-scale overnight accommodations,” Moore said. “We’ve included a restriction against extended stays and cooking facilities to ensure that the hotels won’t be used as residential dwellings.”

The Southampton Town board has scheduled a public hearing on the overlay zone legislation for Dec. 9 at 1 p.m.

The Boardy Barn in Hampton Bays opened in 1970 and became a popular Hamptons party spot in the summer, drawing a crowd of young adults. After closing in 2021, the venue reopened as The Barnyard Beer Garden.