A group of about 30 pro-immigrant advocates showed up outside U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy’s office in Hartford Friday morning, ranging in age from a young teen to an older woman in a wheelchair. They had around 400 postcards to deliver.
People from all over Connecticut wrote personalized messages on these postcards while at a protest outside the federal immigration courthouse on June 3. The postcards called on Sen. Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal to defund and abolish ICE.
“I think a lot of times a huge action happens, and then people don't know what to do next,” said community member Stefan Keller. “It felt good to give folks a next step.”
It felt even better, they said, to see that next step through with a group of local community members gathering to hand-deliver the postcards on a Friday morning.
Calls to Action for CT’s U.S. Senators
When delivering the postcards, Keller said the group was asking for action from the lawmakers based on recent ICE and immigration court activity.
“Enforcement has increased even more in the last month,” Keller said. While they don’t have exact numbers, Keller said there has been a notable uptick in reported ICE sightings across internal advocacy group communications within Connecticut.
They said it’s a reflection of the widely-reported national surge of ICE enforcement with 10,000 arrests in five days this past month.
Keller also said community advocates are noticing people getting fast-tracked through the Hartford immigration court system, raising concerns of increased removal orders and expedited court proceedings.
According to the CT Mirror, Hartford’s immigration court has hit a record rate of deportations this year with “judges issuing 2,858 removal orders Jan. 1 to June 1.” That’s up from 2,200 the year before.
A DOJ spokesperson told Connecticut Public in a written statement, “Reducing the immigration court backlog remains one of the highest priorities for this administration. The Justice Department is restoring integrity to our immigration system by hearing cases fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly, in accordance with the law.”
Several immigration judges based in Hartford have left their positions since the Trump administration began its crackdown, and an agency under the DOJ said it is addressing the case backlog.
“The Executive Office for Immigration Review prioritizes the timely completion of all cases,” an EOIR spokesperson said. “Unnecessary delay hurts both aliens with meritorious claims and the American public who wish to see aliens with non-meritorious claims removed as quickly as possible. As it continues to add new immigration judges, EOIR will continue to make scheduling adjustments to ensure all cases are handled in a timely and lawful manner.”
Advocates asked for Murphy and Blumenthal to go to the immigration courthouse themselves to watch for violations of due process.
“It's hard to know where ICE is going to be,” Keller said, “but immigration court is there every day. There are hundreds of folks going to that building every week for court, so it's a place that our senators could go to actually see what's happening.”
Advocates also asked for the senators to push for viable pathways to citizenship to ensure the safety of all immigrants, including through the possibility of an “amnesty for all” program.
Murphy shared his thoughts via statement later that afternoon.
“What we’ve seen from ICE in Connecticut – grabbing people showing up to their court hearings, separating families, detaining people who have lived and worked in our state for years – is horrific. It’s why as the ranking Democratic appropriator for DHS, I led the fight against funding this lawless agency and why I’ll continue to do everything in my power to stop DHS from terrorizing our communities,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s office is working to set up a meeting with some of the advocates that visited the office Friday, one of his staff members said.
Blumenthal also released a statement.
“The Trump Administration’s heartless and brutal immigration policies have been on full display. From breaking into homes and detaining people without cause to slow-walking DACA renewals and arbitrarily cancelling student visas, callous cruelty is ICE’s norm. We need comprehensive changes—as I’ve been fighting for — and we need them now,” Blumenthal said. “Congress must have the courage to take a broader look at our immigration system and fix what is clearly broken.”
According to one of his staff members, Blumenthal plans to attend an immigration hearing in Hartford when the Senate recesses for the month of August.
‘We deserve better.’
In the hallway outside Sen. Murphy’s office, the group sang songs of hope as two advocates spoke with staff members inside.
When Deputy State Director for the senator, Joanne Cannon, stepped out to listen, the advocates read some of the handwritten notes on the postcards:
“No more ICE or we will replace you. There are more of us than there are of you, and if you don't do it, one of us will. Ben from Bloomfield.”
“My friend had her father taken back during the first of Trump's presidency terms. He was murdered when he got deported back to his country. She has to live with that forever. Abolish ICE. Writer from Middletown.”
“We cannot allow for humanity to be disappeared, kidnapped, and terrorized here in the U.S. Please act. Stop this terror, Abby from Marlborough, Connecticut.”
“ICE detained my friend for nearly three months. The treatment was dehumanizing. We deserve better. Jason, from Hartford, Connecticut.”
