New Haven police say that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested three people in the city Thursday. The news was among a flurry of local and national immigration developments on the minds of immigrant advocates who gathered at a downtown rally later in the day.
The latest arrests show that the advocacy work is far from over, said Kica Matos with the National Immigration Law Center, who was among the rally speakers.
“They were here today in this block snatching people away in broad daylight, and it is happening everywhere,” Matos said.
Few details about the arrests were available Thursday night. ICE officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the New Haven Police Department confirmed ICE made three arrests Thursday in downtown.
A department spokesman said ICE officials did notify New Haven police of the action, but local officers were not involved in the arrests.
People at the rally also mourned the death of a Minneapolis woman who was shot and killed Wednesday by an ICE agent.
Fumika Mizuno, a volunteer with the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, led the New Haven crowd in a moment of silence to honor the life of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three. Mizuno also included all those who have died or disappeared while in ICE custody.
After the crowd held the silence for nearly a minute, Mizuno invited people to lay flowers on the steps of the New Haven Superior Court, where a handwritten sign read: “We will not be complicit.”
“We hold rage and grief and yet we choose to be here together because we transform those into action, and through action we build hope,” Mizuno said.
“If there was ever a time for us to come together, that time is right now,” said Rev. Scott Marks, director of New Haven Rising. “And all the things that would cause us to be separate and apart, I call for solidarity.”
Other vigils were held across Connecticut, including one at an ICE field office in Hartford.
The rallies across the state came soon after Avelo Airlines announced the end of its involvement with federal deportation flights out of Arizona. The news came after months of protests at Tweed New Haven Airport, where Avelo has a significant presence, and a widespread boycott of the airline over the practice.
An Avelo spokesperson said Wednesday that the airline’s decision to end its partnership with ICE was purely financial.
Advocates said Avelo ending its contract does not mean that the group's advocacy is done. They will keep pushing back against the Trump administration’s heightened immigration enforcement.
“We aren't going to stop resisting until every loved one, every neighbor, and every family member is home, and we aren't going to stop until this death machine is abolished. We will keep showing up,” Mizuno said, as the crowd cheered in response.
Connecticut Public’s Daniela Doncel and Cassandra Basler contributed to this report, as did the Associated Press.
