Schiavoni Talks Montaukett Recognition, ICE Detentions at LTV Studios Event

State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni said at a recent event at LTV Studios that Governor Kathy Hochul has until the end of the year to act on a pending bill for Montaukett recognition.

This latest effort, which passed the State Assembly unanimously, is the seventh such bill, and it comes after former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Hochul vetoed previous recognition legislation three times each — the last one coming at the end of last year at the hands of the latter.

A 1910 ruling in a State Supreme Court case called Pharaoh v. Benson declared the tribe extinct when a judge sided with the descendants of Arthur Benson, a developer, in granting Montaukett lands.

But this most recent bill is the first to come while Schiavoni is in the State Assembly, after he assumed the seat held by Fred W. Thiele Jr. when the former assemblyman retired at the end of last year.

“In the court case of Benson v. Pharaoh, the judge ruled that they were extinct,” Schiavoni said. “And by the way, there were like 80 of them in the courtroom when he had declared them extinct.”

The new state bill is predicated on the fact that judges, in 1910, did not have the authority to declare a people extinct, as that responsibility fell with the U.S. Congress. Schiavoni said he is convinced that the governor will sign the latest iteration of the bill.

“We’re not giving them recognition,” Schiavoni said. “We are reinstating a recognition that was wrongfully taken from them — and legally incorrect, too — and it’s very popular in the legislatures, in both houses, and now it’s before the governor.”

The event at LTV Studios, held on Thursday evening, covered a wide range of topics impacting the local community, including affordable housing, schools, clean water and the recent presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Hampton Bays and Westhampton.

On the latter, Schiavoni brought up the assertion that ICE is working to get criminals off the street, which he said he does not have a problem with, if those individuals receive due process.

And Schiavoni said he has a lot of respect for police officers, but he is concerned about the $227 million in the federal budget that is earmarked for ICE, which will increase the “group of guys who show up in jeans and work boots.”

“I believe, like I said here, that this kind of operation really erodes trust in government and the police and puts people in danger,” Schiavoni said.

The assemblyman’s district includes New York State’s three largest commercial fisheries; he said he is bringing forward a bill intended to boost the chances for would-be commercial fishermen to get a license, which are limited due to federal quotas on fish.

“This is a legacy industry that we want to keep here, and so one of the things that we are working on is the licensing for commercial fishermen in New York State,” Schiavoni said.