The detainment of a New Haven Public Schools student by Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents has been criticized by immigrant rights advocates and city officials who say ICE raids do not make the city safer.
Esdras R., a student at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, was picked up by ICE agents last week, while working at a car wash, according to Tabitha Sookdeo, the executive director for CT Students for a Dream, which advocates for immigrant youth. Sookdeo said Esdras is a member of the organization.
“We're horrified, and also we feel that Esdras being picked up is absolutely inhumane,” Sookdeo said.
Sookdeo said she doesn’t believe Esdras R. was targeted for his membership to CT Students for a Dream.
The detainment is the latest in a series of ICE raids in New Haven and throughout the state. City officials and immigrant rights advocates say they are continuing to offer know your rights-style campaigns to educate people on their rights, as they criticized the chilling effect the raids have had on immigrant communities in the city, as advocates called for counseling to students.
Mayor Justin Elicker said he believes the detention was unwarranted.
“With the exception of maybe one case in New Haven, we have seen no arrests of people with any violent history,” Elicker said. “And of course, if there are people that have a violent history, we don't want them in our community as well. But that is just not what is going on right now with these ICE arrests.”
ICE did not answer a request for comment by Connecticut Public as of Tuesday afternoon.
Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) offers services and advocacy for immigrants and is based in New Haven. Maggie Mitchell Salem, executive director of IRIS, also criticized ICE.
She credited New Haven schools for offering guidance on federal immigration enforcement actions. But said being detained can be emotionally and psychologically damaging, not only for a student, but for the local community.
Mitchell Salem said schools should treat ICE apprehensions similarly to how they react to other crises, including gun violence.
“I would want the school to have support services available for those students if they're released from detention, for their friends, their classmates, the school community; counseling, other forms of support so that the community is able to come together and grieve,” Salem said.
Other immigrants in the state have been detained, leading to press conferences and rallies by family members or loved ones of those picked up by ICE in recent months.
Sookdeo said many immigration detention facilities are in poor condition, as Yale Law School highlighted human rights abuses in those facilities, particularly in Louisiana, in recent months.
Esdras R. is being held at a detention facility in Massachusetts, according to Elicker.
Sookdeo said many migrants held at these facilities are given inadequate food, or face other abuses as she expressed concern over his mental well-being.
“That can also be scary for a high schooler,” Sookdeo said. “That's something I think psychologically, that I hope people take away from this.”
Sookdeo said her organization is in contact with Esdras R. and is holding a rally in his honor at Wilbur Cross High School Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Elicker and New Haven School Superintendent Madeline Negron issued a joint statement criticizing the arrest.
Esdras’ teachers, Elicker said, are writing letters of support on Esdras’ behalf. Negron’s office did not answer a request for comment.
Sookdeo said while many people have expressed support, others have also expressed their support for ICE raids, claiming criminals are being rounded up. She said that is not true.
“That's not the case,” Sookdeo said. “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and just working and trying to support his family.”
