A confrontation between activists and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — who took at least one man into custody at a courthouse in Meriden — ended Wednesday with one woman getting pepper-sprayed and another being taken by ambulance after she was pushed to the ground.
The encounter raised questions about enforcement of the state's Trust Act, which places limits on immigration enforcement activities at Connecticut courthouses and bans the use of masks by law enforcement. A provision that creates "protected areas" like hospitals, schools and places of worship goes into effect Oct. 1.
The immigration enforcement operation Wednesday is part of a growing ICE presence in Connecticut and across the country since the Trump administration began a mass deportation plan.
According to 2026 ICE arrest data obtained by the Deportation Data Project, which is limited to counts publicly released from January to Aug. 5 of this year, 32 people were detained in "on the ground" arrests — meaning data that excludes transfers of incarcerated people into ICE custody — in Meriden.
According to the data, around 455 people have been arrested at-large so far in Connecticut this year, with 764 detained in 2025 and 205 in 2024.
The data shows that, as of the first five days of August, Meriden had seen more ICE activity than the much-larger New Haven this year and a similar number of detentions as Bridgeport and Danbury, the latter of which saw significant enforcement activity after that date last month. Hartford had outpaced all of those cities in the number of arrest this year, with 109 as of Aug. 5.
Nancy Burton, a Meriden resident and member of a rapid response team that monitors ICE presence in Connecticut, said she was pepper-sprayed by an agent who was exiting the courthouse. After she was treated by an emergency medical technician at the scene, Burton told The Connecticut Mirror she had begun stepping away from the federal officer after he demanded she move when he deployed the spray.
"He wanted to use his pepper spray, he didn't have to," Burton said.
In a video of the confrontation taken by activists on the scene, Madeline Gallagher, another rapid response team member, can be seen falling down after she was pushed back by a courthouse security staffer when activists crowded around the ICE officers.
Other rapid response team members said they witnessed Gallagher briefly lose consciousness after her fall. She was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Security staff at the courthouse declined to comment.
Gallagher, who joined the volunteer group a month ago, told the CT Mirror she was motivated to volunteer because "mothers [are] being taken away from their children."
Activists yelled at the masked agents and filmed them on Wednesday, demanding to know why they were ignoring the Connecticut Trust Act.
"Where is the warrant? It's against the law. Why are you wearing a mask? You're violating state law," one of the members of the team told an agent as he entered the courthouse.
A Judicial Branch official confirmed on Wednesday evening that a person was arrested at the Meriden courthouse and that the Judicial Marshal Services had received a warrant before the arrest.
"We are reviewing the warrant presented to validate this information and are examining video of today’s incident to ensure that Connecticut state law was followed," said Stephen Ment, executive director of the external affairs division of the Connecticut Judicial Branch.
ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment about the Meriden operation.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said when the Trust Act was passed lawmakers "knew there were going to be challenges." He said he planned to call the attorney general's office to see what recourse the state might have if ICE is violating state law.
"It sounds like a very chaotic situation which is exactly what we were trying to avoid by passing these very laws," he said.
In May, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong, calling the law “blatantly unconstitutional” and arguing that the state has no authority to tell federal agents what they can and cannot do.
Danbury Unites for Immigrants has called on state officials to enforce the Trust Act. Danbury was targeted in a sweeping immigration enforcement operation in August and activists voiced concerns about possible collaboration between Danbury police and ICE.
"Last month our rapid response volunteers watched parents get kidnapped at school bus stops while their kids looked on," Danbury organizer Seth Garben wrote in a statement to the CT Mirror on Wednesday. "We saw neighbors picked up at Kennedy Park just for waiting for a day's work, and volunteers pepper-sprayed for filming. These aren't statistics to us. They’re children ending up with mental health crises that are resulting in irreparable harm. They're the families we sit with at our helpline, walk with into court, and help put together emergency plans in case a parent doesn't come home."
Garben called on local officials to make good on the "promise" of the Trust Act.
"ICE continues to obtain mass surveillance technologies, more agents, and our tax dollars to get arrest reports and booking photos from local departments, sometimes within minutes," he said, "and we need to accept that right now we don't have any clear and systemic ways for our state government to check whether our laws are being broken."
He questioned how the groups can know whether ICE agents indeed have warrants and that courts aren't collaborating with their efforts.
He called on Tong to open an investigation into Trust Act compliance, starting in Danbury. He also called on Lamont and lawmakers to create an independent body to audit and enforce laws and on state leaders to fund legal defense and rapid response groups.
CT Mirror reporter Sasha Allen contributed to this story.
This story was originally published by The Connecticut Mirror September 23, 2026.
