Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman regularly commands public attention by echoing President Donald Trump’s talking points. But his latest effort to be the president’s “mini-me” on “border” protection has an almost comical edge.
Guarding borders has practical meaning when we’re talking about big numbers of migrants from Central America crossing illegally into the United States. It means very little when it comes to migrating from Bellerose in Queens to Bellerose in Nassau, or getting around the Cross Island Parkway, which one denizen calls the “Great Wall” along the border.
Nonetheless Blakeman, who sounds like he’s running for governor after winning a second term last month, has timed rather mundane and detail-free talk about installing surveillance technology along his county’s border with New York City in tandem with the coming mayoral administration of Zohran Mamdani.
“We are doing everything necessary to make sure that Nassau County is safe,” Blakeman told Fox News. Last month, before the election, Blakeman warned darkly that city and county law enforcement officials “are in joint investigations, and the integrity of those investigations may be compromised with a Mamdani administration, so I think it’s a danger to the whole region if he’s elected.”
Whatever message that was supposed to send, some of the technology Blakeman cited, such as license plate readers, is already deployed near the Queens-Nassau border. The only controversial part of his publicity pitch might be Blakeman’s mention of using facial-recognition technology, which raises the hackles of civil libertarians.
Blakeman expressed a business interest in border technology before. In 2017, while an attorney in private practice, he was among those pushing for solar panels atop Trump’s proposed border wall to help fund the project. When interviewed about this on Fox Business News back then, Blakeman was identified as a principal in Sustainable Technology LLC.
Borders aside, Blakeman has been on social media inviting residents of the Upper East Side of Manhattan who expressed concern about safety and schools under Mamdani to move to Nassau County.
But tension with the city, no matter who’s mayor, could get dicey for Blakeman in a statewide race. Any Republican candidate for governor is expected to need at least a third of the vote from the five boroughs to offset the Democrats’ advantages. If Long Island’s Lee Zeldin, the last GOP candidate against Gov. Kathy Hochul, had done better in the city, he might have won in 2022.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist deeply critical of Israel, is a logical target for both Blakeman, a potential candidate, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s already running. After a surprisingly friendly Oval Office appearance with the mayor-elect, however, Trump openly rejected Stefanik’s labeling Mamdani a “jihadist.”
The premise has been widely accepted that the preferred GOP nominee against Hochul will be up to Trump. His diplomatic dance with Mamdani might not indicate how he’s leaning. Although Stefanik has lined up support from most county committees across the state, Blakeman is seen on Long Island, a Republican stronghold, as helping to boost Republican congressional candidates, next year’s most crucial sweepstakes.
Whoever sits in Albany’s Executive Mansion in 2027, it’s a good bet that you’ll be free to travel without a visa stamp between Far Rockaway and Lawrence. Or between Little Neck and Lake Success. Or across other points where Queens and Nassau meet.
Columnist Dan Janison’s opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.