Nassau County Chapter — Protestors to Oyster Bay: Anti-Immigrant Law Offends Constitution

Protestors to Oyster Bay: Anti-Immigrant Law Offends Constitution

Nassau Chapter Director Samantha Fredrickson and Suffolk Chapter Director Andrea Callan

About 100 NYCLU supporters and immigrant rights advocates rallied in front of Oyster Bay Town Hall this week, calling for a repeal of a recently passed anti-immigrant ordinance.

In late September, the Oyster Bay Town Board enacted a local ordinance making it a crime to stand on a public sidewalk and solicit employment. The law, purportedly a public safety measure, unfairly targets day laborers, who are often Latino immigrants. It violates everyone’s constitutional rights to free speech and equal treatment under the law.

The ordinance violates the First Amendment by outlawing basic speech such as “waving arms,” “making hand signals,” “waving signs” and “jumping up and down.” It criminalizes this speech in “all of the areas dedicated to public use for public street purposes” and includes sidewalks, parkways, medians and curbs.

At Tuesday’s rally, supporters marched to Town Hall singing chants like “Oyster Bay, shame on you” and “Whose rights? Our rights!” Day laborers came from all throughout Nassau County to stand up for their rights and send the message to the Town of Oyster Bay that the constitution protects everyone.

The NYCLU Nassau County Chapter organized the rally with the help of the Workplace Project, Centro Cultural Hispano de Oyster Bay, Long Island Wins, Jobs with Justice, Latino Justice PRLDEF, Farmingdale Citizens for Viable Solutions and Long Island Immigrant Alliance.


Supporters at the rally

Luz Torres, director of Centro Cultural speaks about the anti-immigrant ordinance

Supporters at the rally

Supporters at the rally