A series of bills before the Connecticut General Assembly Judiciary Committee on Monday would place restrictions on federal immigration officials and provide state residents an avenue to sue agents who violate their civil rights.
At a Monday morning Capitol press conference, the leadership of the state Senate and the co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee joined with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to tout the proposed legislation as constitutional, enforceable and necessary.
“People are being terrorized, they’re being shot, and they’re being killed,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, a Norwalk Democrat. “This legislation was not just thrown together, basically, to say hey, look, we think we should do something just to make people feel better.”
“Our point is to make sure that we are protecting the residents of the state of Connecticut,” Duff said.
Senate Bills 91 and 397 would, among other things, ban federal immigration agents from conducting enforcement at “sensitive locations” like churches, schools and hospitals, unless they have a judicial warrant. The proposed legislation would also make clear that federal officials who violate Connecticut residents’ civil rights can be sued and found liable, and strengthen the ability of the state Office of Inspector General to investigate the use of deadly force by federal law enforcement.
“Federal officials, federal agents, are subject to state law,” Tong said. “When you’re in Connecticut, you have to follow Connecticut law, and if you don’t, we will take action and hold you accountable.”
The legislation comes two months after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, who Tong described as having been “murdered.” It also follows an incident in Hartford, where a federal vehicle drove into a crowd of protesters during a vigil for Good.
It also comes as the Trump administration has deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports around the country, a move Blumenthal blasted Monday morning.
“Sending ICE agents to airports makes no sense,” Blumenthal said. “They have probably a disruptive effect, because they're going to be interrogating travelers while they're in line, dragging parents away from children, possibly assaulting individuals as they have done throughout the country.”
“They’re going to be more disruptive than helpful,” Blumenthal said.
