Around 100 community members huddled under a roof of umbrellas chanting “ICE out of Connecticut now” as rain poured down on Danbury Superior Court.
Advocates with Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants demanded action from state lawmakers after several Connecticut cities have seen a surge in the presence of federal immigration officers.
The rally took place less than a two minute walk from 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.
Family members of one of these taken individuals spoke at the rally in Danbury.
Edwin Andres Calva-Guaman was taken into ICE custody last week at the Danbury Superior Courthouse, according to his sister Monica Apolinario.
Apolinario addressed the crowd at the rally in Spanish with her son and Calva-Gauman’s nephew, 3-year-old Axel, standing next to her.
“[Calva-Guaman’s] lawyer told him to go to the Danbury Superior Courthouse because he supposedly had a court date. I showed up in court to ask why he had to attend, but in actuality, he didn't have a court date. We don't know why they summoned him, and we don't know where they took him,” Apolinario said in Spanish. “I just came [to the rally] to let you all know so that all of those who have court dates are cautious with immigration.”
Calva-Guaman’s girlfriend of three years, Jossie Gutierrez, stood with her. Through tears, Gutierrez said in Spanish that Calva-Gauman is the main provider for his sister, his nephews and his mother who is back in their home country of Ecuador.
“His mother has no consolation, crying because she doesn’t know where her son is. We don’t know where he is, how he is… nothing,” Gutierrez said in Spanish. “Unfortunately, his nephew, who was like his brother, was killed because they deported him back to his home country. He got to his home country just to be killed. That’s what we don’t want to happen to [Calva-Guaman], so please let’s get together and raise our voices so that this ends.”
In the ICE statement on Operation Broken Trust, ICE officials said, “Calva-Guaman’s criminal history includes a conviction for larceny and arrest for domestic violence, assault 3rd degree and breach of peace.”
According to the pending cases docket on the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch website, Calva-Gauman is awaiting disposition for eight misdemeanors, including two charges of third degree assault, one charge of fifth degree larceny and one charge of second degree breach of peace. He is also awaiting disposition for two class D felonies of a violation of a protective order.
All of the offenses took place last year. Calva-Gauman pleaded not guilty on all charges and has a court date scheduled in December.
‘Are you ready to fight?’
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal was met with pushback when he spoke at the rally in Danbury on Wednesday.
After introducing him to the crowd, organizer and co-founder of Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants Juan Fonseca Tapia spoke to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal directly.
“We know you condemned this fascist administration and the terror inflicted on our community,” Fonseca Tapia said. “We know that. But on behalf of my community, I am asking you, what are you going to do to keep our families safe?”
When Sen. Blumenthal responded by asking the crowd if they were ready to fight, several individuals in the crowd shouted back, “Are you?”
Blumenthal said he was ready.
“Now I cannot order anything,” Blumenthal said. “You understand, I’m in the minority in the United States Senate, but I can begin an investigation that will bring into light who should be held accountable, and I’m going to do it.”
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 of Boston’s ICE field office 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 City of Danbury and several cities in Fairfield County have been swarmed with ICE presence in recent weeks.
ICE presence in and around Danbury
According to Carolina Bortolleto, ICE presence has been a weekly occurrence in the city of Danbury for two months straight.
On Saturday, August 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, Connecticut, and Brewster, New York.
Then, on Thursday August 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 Monday, August 11.
According to Rhonda Herbert, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Judicial Branch, public safety officials are not to prevent or assist ICE in any apprehensions in the courthouse under the Trust Act. However, former Connecticut state representative David Michel 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 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in his House district.
Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons and Police Chief Timothy Shaw put out a joint written statement on August 19 regarding the increase in ICE activity.
The statement read, “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. 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 the ICE activity recently seen in their city.
According to a statement from Mayor Rilling, the Norwalk Police Chief and the Common Council, ICE officers used the Norwalk Police Department parking lot on Thursday, August 14 and Friday, August 15 without prior authority or consent. The statement said police department officials asked the ICE officers to leave the parking lot on both occasions.
Mayor Harry Rilling condemned these actions in a press conference on Friday, August 15
“We want to first make it clear that immigration customs enforcement were not invited to Norwalk. They were not invited to use any facility in the city of Norwalk, including the police department parking lot which we found rather inappropriate,” Rilling said in the press conference.
More CT elected officials speak out
Stamford State Representative Matt Blumenthal took to social media on Saturday, August 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 Tuesday, August 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.”
Tired of hope and prayers
After the rally, an advocate identified as Ixmucane walked over to the sidewalk to wave a sign of people who have allegedly died in ICE custody at cars passing by.
Ixmucane, who was born and raised in Guatemala, refrained from sharing her last name and hometown out of concern for her personal safety.
“I want the elected officials to get out of their comfort zone and realize that they are representing all of us as a community,” she said.
Ixmucane said she wants to hold both Connecticut’s elected officials and advocates who attend these rallies accountable.
“I don't want to talk about hope. I don't want to talk about prayers. I am tired of those two words,” Ixmucane said. “I want actions.”
This story has been updated with statements from ICE and comments from the rally.
