As dozens of people have been taken by federal immigration agents across Connecticut this week, community members are helping families in the search for their loved ones. They’re turning to social media to identify photos of people stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as vehicles left in the streets.
Olga Guerra told Connecticut Public that her husband, Fidel, was taken into ICE custody on Monday morning in Stamford as he was driving to work.
“I got a call from friends [asking] if he was OK, because they saw his car and they saw him talking with these agents that seem to be ICE,” Guerra said. “I went there. His car was there, but he was not there anymore.”
Guerra tried to locate her husband, but her efforts weren’t successful. On Wednesday, he was able to call her from a detention facility in Colorado.
“We have three kids together. He’s very worried about the kids,” Guerra said. “I said, ‘You have to be OK. We’re here. We’re OK. The kids are at school, I’m at work, and you’ve got to be OK.’”
‘A nice husband, a great dad’
The couple is originally from Guatemala. Guerra said she is a United States citizen, while her husband has been working towards attaining citizenship. Guerra has secured legal representation for her husband. She has also reached out to Stamford-based nonprofit Building One Community.
“He is such a nice person, a nice husband, a great dad,” Guerra said. “He's a very hardworking person. He always cares about his family.”
Guerra said the Stamford community was rattled by this week’s increase in immigration enforcement activity.
“It’s very painful,” she said. “It’s very sad, because you wish you can do a lot of things for them, and there’s a lot of things that are not in your hands.”
What it’s like volunteering on the ground
In Danbury, where the majority of ICE activity has been reported, volunteer networks have been rising to the challenge.
The advocacy group Danbury Unites for Immigrants has a rapid response team that works to help people who are detained.
Seth Garben, a group member, follows up on reports of ICE sightings. He has been doing this kind of work for about a year, but Monday was the first time he saw an ICE detainment in person.
“The body just wants to break down,” Garben said, “because it's a traumatic experience. It’s a grievous experience.”
Garben said he often enters a “kind of flow state where you lock in” when he is driving around the city to confirm ICE presence. All the while, he gets alerts of local or national reports, such as the recent news of ICE arresting nearly 50,000 people across the U.S. in July.
Since Monday, Garben said he has seen at least three or four ICE arrests in Danbury.
“But then you see [an ICE arrest] happen, and the statistic becomes corporeal,” Garben said. “I mean, it becomes physical, and it's tragic. It really is.”
Margaret Henderson, another member of the rapid response team, also works as an operator for the organization’s helpline. Henderson said she’s been handling about 20 calls over a four- to six-hour shift since Monday.
“I had a call [Wednesday] morning from a social worker at a school looking for resources for parents who are too afraid to send their kids to school or to go out to the bus stop with them,” Henderson said.
The recent ICE activity has brought community members closer together, which has motivated the volunteers to keep going, Garben said.
“I have a lot of hope that we'll get through this,” Garben said.
Learn more
The Connecticut Immigrant Support Network (CISN) has created a hub for immigrant resources in Connecticut that provides information for immigrant families, organizations, schools, and elected officials.
