Advocates of the immigrant community are set to gather in front of the Danbury Superior Court Wednesday afternoon to demand action from state lawmakers after several Connecticut cities have seen a surge in the presence of federal immigration officers.
The rally is taking place at the same location where dozens of ICE officers gathered and detained two individuals on the Danbury courthouse steps earlier this month.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Boston confirmed that 65 people were apprehended by ICE in Connecticut over a four-day span this month.
“The state of Connecticut is a safer place thanks to the hard work and determination of the men and women of ICE and our federal partners,” said Patricia H. Hyde, the acting director of Boston’s ICE field office. She noted that many of those who were arrested had “significant criminality.”
Federal officials said 29 of the people arrested during the operation, called “Operation Broken Trust,” were charged or convicted of serious crimes, such as kidnapping, assault, drug offenses, weapons violations and sex crimes. Others had criminal histories in their native countries or were identified as members of gangs, ICE officials said.
In response to the uptick in ICE activity, Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants has organized a petition with demands for state elected officials. Carolina Bortolleto, a member of the community-based group, said she and other advocates are calling on lawmakers to take action in a special session. It is currently unclear if the Connecticut legislature will reconvene for a special session this fall.
According to the petition, the group is calling on Gov. Ned Lamont and the legislature to strengthen Connecticut’s TRUST Act, a law that limits how local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials.
Changes to the TRUST Act passed earlier this year and going into effect this fall expand on crimes that qualify for cooperation with federal immigration officials, but also allow residents to file a lawsuit against municipal police departments that violate the law.
Hyde criticized the law in her statement.
“Sanctuary legislation like Connecticut’s Trust Act only endangers the communities it claims to protect,” Hyde said, noting that the act forces law enforcement to release people “back into the very communities they have already victimized.”
Responding to advocate concerns
While the TRUST Act already prevents state and local law enforcement from assisting ICE except in cases of serious crimes, the Danbury advocates’ petition seeks to further limit the sharing of personal information by public agencies with federal immigration officials.
The law also prohibits Connecticut’s National Guard from participating in federal immigration enforcement – a tactic used recently in Los Angeles.
However, the TRUST Act does not prohibit federal immigration officers from detaining individuals inside courthouses, a change that advocates proposed during the legislative process this spring. Petitioners also want lawmakers to prohibit ICE arrests at courthouses, including while people travel to and leave the courthouse, as the state has seen at recent arrests in Fairfield County.
The petition also calls on city officials in Danbury to prevent local law enforcement from assisting ICE in cases such as using city property without a warrant, setting up traffic perimeters and sharing surveillance footage. It also asks city officials to ensure local schools host family preparedness workshops. While the state of Connecticut put out guidance for K-12 public schools on immigration activities in late January, immigration advocates are also calling on the city of Danbury to create a response plan for when ICE presence is reported outside school zones and hospitals.
The demands come as the =Danbury and several cities in Fairfield County have been swarmed with ICE agents in recent weeks.
ICE presence in and around Danbury
According to Carolina Bortolleto, ICE presence has been a weekly occurrence in Danbury for two months straight.
On Aug. 2, the group raised the alarm of ICE officers dressing up as construction workers to conduct their operations just across the state line between Danbury and Brewster, New York.
Then, on Aug. 14, Bortolleto said dozens of ICE officers gathered at the Danbury courthouse and detained two individuals from the courthouse steps.
Video taken of the incident shows an alleged ICE officer pulling out a taser after a confrontation between advocates and ICE officers escalated in the parking lot. When asked for a name and badge number, one individual in a green shirt, jeans and face covering quickly flashed an apparent badge hanging off his jeans.
ICE arrests in Stamford courthouse
In Stamford, federal officers were seen taking two men into custody inside the state courthouse on Aug. 11.
Public safety officials are not to prevent or assist ICE in any apprehensions in the courthouse under the Trust Act, according to Rhonda Herbert, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Judicial Branch. However, David Michel, a former Connecticut state representative, said it was previously thought that arrests only occurred outside the court building in Stamford.
Stamford and Norwalk residents organized a rally a few days later to speak out against the recent ICE arrests in their communities.
Then, Democratic State Rep. Corey Paris of Stamford began to receive death threats over the weekend, after the official ICE X account on social media shared a post criticizing Paris for putting information online about a heightened presence of ICE agents in his House district.
Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons and Police Chief Timothy Shaw put out a joint written statement on Aug. 19 regarding the increase in ICE activity.
“The City of Stamford is a welcoming and inclusive community, and the recent activity by ICE officials does not align with our commitment to ensure that all residents are treated with dignity and respect — regardless of immigration status or background," the statement said. "Consistent with state law, the Stamford Police Department operates in full compliance with the Connecticut TRUST Act, which defines and limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials. The Stamford Police Department does not assist ICE, except in cases involving serious crimes.”
ICE activity condemned in Norwalk
Norwalk officials have also spoken out against ICE activity seen in their city.
According to a statement from Mayor Harry Rilling, the Norwalk police chief and the Common Council, ICE officers used the Norwalk Police Department parking lot on Aug. 14 and 15 without prior authority or consent. The statement said police department officials asked the ICE officers to leave the parking lot on both occasions.
Rilling condemned these actions in a press conference on Aug. 15.
“We want to first make it clear that immigration customs enforcement were not invited to Norwalk," he said. "They were not invited to use any facility in the city of Norwalk, including the police department parking lot which we found rather inappropriate."
More CT elected officials speak out
Stamford State Rep. Matt Blumenthal took to social media on Aug. 16 to say “ICE in Connecticut is completely out of control.”
In a video, Blumenthal addressed the courthouse incident in Stamford and the ICE presence in Norwalk.
“These violent lawless and frankly unprofessional intimidation tactics by ICE are detrimental to the administration of justice and public safety," Blumenthal said.
In a statement, ICE officials said they made arrests as part of this month’s four-day operation in Connecticut “after local jurisdictions refused to honor immigration detainer requests to turn over the offenders forcing ICE officers and agents to make at-large arrests in Connecticut communities.”
Blumenthal noted that there are other ways for federal immigration agents to do their work.
“If ICE wants to detain people they view as dangerous who are in our courthouses, they have a simple remedy: Get a damn warrant,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal said he and his colleagues are “investigating mechanisms for the state to reassert control over its courthouses, including by preventing federal immigration enforcement from entering without a judicial warrant to make arrests.”
Gov. Ned Lamont condemned federal immigration officers on Aug. 19 for carrying out their operations and arrests at local courthouses, saying it threatened public safety. The statements were made in a letter sent to US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“When the federal government detains people at state courthouses, it is harder for prosecutors, public defenders, police, and judges to do their jobs,” Lamont wrote. “These measures create fear among Connecticut residents, including witnesses, victims and families, about going to court or contacting the police to report criminal activity.”
This story has been updated with statements from ICE. It will continue to be updated.
