Category: Human Rights

No Illegal ICE Detentions at Tweed New Haven Airport!

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By New Haven Immigrants Coalition

The New Haven Immigrants Coalition, Singing Resistance, New Haven Rising, New Haven Federation of Teachers and others held a press conference on Oct. 21 at Tweed New Haven Airport Authority with the demand that Tweed follow federal and state laws and take every step within its power to stand against ICE and support immigrants.

Following are excerpts of the NHIC press release:

The New Haven Immigrants Coalition (NHIC) calls upon Tweed New Haven Airport Authority (TNHAA) to follow federal regulations and state law.

“Tweed New Haven Airport Authority should follow the law and stand firmly in support of its undocumented neighbors,” the coalition said. “ICE is constrained by CT law and may not detain a member of the public in municipal spaces without a judicial warrant. No human being should be subjected to the dehumanizing and violent tactics such as we have seen at Tweed in the past months. Furthermore, federal regulations require TNHAA to verify that ICE agents go through rigorous background checks and training before they are granted access to the airport. It is incumbent upon TNHAA to ensure these background checks have taken place and are accurate.”

In the past few months two students were detained at Tweed. Instead of studying, sports practice and spending time with friends, these students found themselves far from their friends and family, sleeping on cold concrete floors and struggling to navigate a system of detention camps designed to humiliate and dehumanize them. Additionally, two other members of our community were similarly detained and separated from their families, friends and work. These tactics harm our communities in every way.

The coalition outlined its specific demands that Tweed comply with state and federal law, including that Tweed:

  1. Ensure every ICE officer granted unrestricted access at Tweed has undergone a full background check;
  2. Maintain a comprehensive identification system for ICE agents;
  3. Administer training, including on Public Act 26-14 which prohibits civil arrests without a judicial warrant, before granting ICE access to secured areas;
  4. Maintain records of all ICE arrests at Tweed.

The New Haven Immigrants Coalition is a grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to building power among immigrants in the Greater New Haven Area to get organized and stay safe in the face of ongoing ICE brutality. No human being is illegal!

ULA Rallies Against ICE Surge

by Brandon Cortes Sept. 3, 2026, New Haven Independent

In response to a recent statewide surge in federal immigration enforcement, roughly 70 people rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday evening [Sept. 2] to demand that ICE leave Connecticut.

The rally was organized by the City of New Haven Peace Commission and Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA).

It took place on the same night that nearly 2,000 people marched in Danbury, which has become the center of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the state.
“Today we are here in solidarity and we are doing a parallel act to what’s going on in Danbury, which is now suffering from ICE raids, but it’s an attack the whole country is suffering,” said John Jairo Lugo, a founding member of ULA. “More than 100 people were being detained, and I feel that it’s time for the people in Connecticut to rise up and do something.”

Brandon Cortes photo

Brandon Cortes photo

In his remarks, Lugo laid out a set of demands aimed at Hartford. Chief among them: a $50 million state fund for immigrant legal defense and family protection.

“We are not asking for charity,” Lugo said. “We’re demanding an investment in the families that for decades have helped build Connecticut’s economy.”

[Read the article in its entirety at https://bit.ly/4ApYJHX]

Healthcare Workers for Palestine

Excerpt from flyer of Sept. 15, 2026

[Every Tuesday, from noon till 1 p.m., Doctors Against Genocide and Healthcare Workers for Palestine CT hold a vigil. They display banners and hand out flyers in front of Yale New Haven Hospital at the corner of Cedar and York streets. All are welcome to join the vigil in support of Palestinian rights. Information is on Instagram at hcw4pct.]

The human rights organization B’Tselem has just published a 249-page report titled “The Elimination Project.” It states that “Israel is pursuing a goal of comprehensive erasure of Palestinian life …openly, directly and violently…and increasingly relies on cooperation between official state authorities and settler militias operating in the West Bank with state backing and support.” The campaign of elimination relies on violence and intimidation, restrictions on movement, economic strangulation, social and political destruction, ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover. An example of this policy is the decision to merge two nearby settlements to form a barrier between East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. It concludes that the results of the upcoming October elections are unlikely to change this policy regardless of who wins.

Stop Solitary in Connecticut

From the website stopsolitaryct.org

Stop Solitary CT came together to end the use of solitary confinement and abuse against incarcerated children, women and men, across Connecticut. The group works to improve conditions incarcerated people face and transform those spaces into ones that center on humanity and rehabilitation.

Two of the most prominent successes have been: shutting down Northern CI, Connecticut’s supermax, a facility cited by the International community for its torture of incarcerated men, which ended in 2021 with its closing; and secondly, in 2021 the PROTECT Act (Promoting Responsible Oversight, Treatment, and Ensuring Correctional Transparency) was passed with bipartisan support, yet Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed it. It was successfully signed into law May 2022. Part of the legislation included establishing independent oversight over the Connecticut Department of Corrections. An enormous win for Stop Solitary CT and incarcerated people.

The group continues to demand enforcement of the PROTECT Act and encourage families and supporters of their work to join alongside them as allies to amplify everyone’s voices. The most important way to support the group is showing up to their public events.

Come to our next monthly meeting on Saturday, Oct. 3, 6 – 8 p.m. at Whitneyville Cultural Commons, 1253 Whitney Ave., Hamden. There will be snacks, film, and discussion. Stay at 8 p.m. for the birthday celebration for our director, Barbara Fair. There will be music, karaoke, food and fun.

Visit stopsolitaryct.org and follow Stop Solitary CT on Instagram for more information.

Port Elizabeth NJ Shut Down by Anti-Genocide Activists

by Mark Colville, Amistad Catholic Worker

There are two major international shipping companies (Maersk and Zimm) operating out of Port Elizabeth, NJ, which handle the bulk of arms shipments to the rogue nation of Israel for its relentless genocidal campaign of terror in the West Bank and Gaza. In October, 2025, and again on May 22 of this year, the entrance to the port was blockaded by local activists at significant physical and legal risk, in the attempt to terminate our nation’s criminal collusion in this unmitigated evil. The loading of the ships was interrupted for several hours, and apparently at significant financial cost to the shipping companies engaged in this criminal behavior. Both groups of activists were originally charged with multiple felonies, carrying the risk of several years in prison upon conviction. Subsequently, that was shown to have been a vacuous threat: in response to their collective refusal to accept any plea of guilty to a lesser “crime,” all of the serious charges in both cases were reduced to misdemeanors, and the matters have now been remanded to municipal court.

On August 4, the five indicted activists who had performed the first blockade, most of whom hail from upstate New York, journeyed several hours by car in order to appear at trial in Elizabeth municipal court the following day. This is a trial that they have insisted upon by refusing to take any plea to a lesser charge. They’d made the exact same journey less than thirty days previously, taking two days away from work and family responsibilities, only to be told at the hearing that the prosecution was not ready, and a postponement was necessary. But then, once again, at approximately 4:45 p.m. on October 5, the court sent an email to one of the accused, indicating that the state was still not prepared to go forward, and therefore the trial would, for the third time in 10 months, be postponed again. By the time anyone was informed, they’d already arrived in New Jersey. The ongoing duplicity of the court is on full display here: they show no compunction about arresting people for constitutionally protected public action, and then charging them beyond the realm of sanity and proportionality, simply as a cynical method of coercion in service to keeping the U.S. government’s status quo of criminality beyond the scrutiny of the public. At this writing, the judge has still refused to dismiss the case based on the violation of their constitutional right to a speedy trial.

Inspired by the October ’25 activists, I chose to join the second direct action this past May. (See a filmed report on this action as it happened, here: bit.ly/45HTghK.) On August 6 (the eighty-first anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima), we ten accused were finally brought to court for our first hearing – not in person but by a Zoom link! You can stay tuned for updates on the legal progress of this saga if you like. Just don’t expect anything to come from the courts that even pretends to be about the pursuit of justice. The law is simply being used as a bureaucratic weapon by these duplicitous and overburdened legal functionaries, for the purposes of institutionalizing government impunity and keeping those of us engaged in responsible citizenship in a constant state of instability and fear.

Demonstrate June 5 Against Citizens Bank’s Financing of ICE Detention Centers

by De-Ice Coalition

Friday, June 5, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.:  Demonstrate outside of Citizens Bank, 39 Church Street in New Haven, CT. Activists in New Haven will join the national movement calling on Citizens Bank to stop financing The GEO Group and CoreCivic, two of the largest private operators of ICE detention centers in the United States- and calling on those who have accounts at Citizens to remove their money unless and until they do this.

Join thousands of people across the country to send Citizens Bank a clear message: financing private prison and immigration detention facility operators The GEO Group and CoreCivic is bad for business, bad for our communities, and unacceptable to Citizens Bank depositors.

Please bring signs specific to this action: De-ICE Citizens Bank; Cages Aren’t Communities; Citizens Bank – Stop Financing ICE Prisons; Citizens Bank + ICE = Human Rights Abuse; ICE Prisons Don’t Strengthen Our Communities; Citizens Bank – Cut Ties With ICE Prisons; etc.

Citizens Bank is bankrolling the country’s two largest prison companies that are earning record profits operating dozens of ICE detention facilities.

While most major banks have cut ties with CoreCivic and The GEO Group, Citizens Bank is deepening its financial support for these companies, which are already holding more than half of the 70,000 immigrants currently in ICE detention centers across the country.

The bank’s capital is supporting a deplorable ICE agenda that aims to fill detention centers with more than 100,000 people by next year.

Even as it publicly touts its commitment to “strengthening our communities,” Citizens Bank has played a key role in helping The GEO Group and CoreCivic access more than $2.5 billion in financing, some of it approved earlier this year. This comes as the companies face a mountain of allegations, including forced labor and wrongful deaths due to understaffing and medical neglect at their facilities.

We won’t quietly stand by as Citizens continues to finance the private prison & ICE detention companies that are harming our communities. The 2019 exodus of banks from the industry in response to activism should be a reminder to us that our voices matter. Now it’s time to use them. Visit www.de-icecitizensbank.org for more information and other actions you can take!

Remember, we want to be in solidarity with workers including bank branch employees. Treat everyone with respect and do not harass or film employees.

A core principle behind all Coalition events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. We expect hosts to ensure all participants in your event uphold this commitment. We recommend all participants review a safety and security resource before your event, such as https://indivisi.org/safety.

For more information about the campaign in general, go to: https://www.de-icecitizensbank.org/.

Go to https://www.mobilize.us/deicecitizens/event/953363/ to RSVP for this event now. This local action is organized by New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice.

Major Immigrant Protection Bill Signed into Law

by Joelle Fishman, May 10, 2026, People’s World

The successful, hard-fought campaign to expand protections for immigrants in Connecticut was celebrated at the bill signing of SB 397 outside the State Supreme Court. Written following wanton ICE violence in Minnesota and other communities, the bill was championed by New Haven state senator Gary Winfield, chair of the Judiciary Committee.

In a contentious two-day House debate, Connecticut stories of ICE kidnapping immigrant students and parents were shared. “This is a very measured response to federal overreach and a way to protect people living here in the state of Connecticut from, frankly, a lawless and out-of-control ICE,” said Bridgeport state representative Steven Stafstrom.

The omnibus bill creates ‘protected areas’ from immigration enforcement, including schools, hospitals, social service agencies, and houses of worship. It bans agents from wearing masks, allows citizens to sue for constitutional violations, and limits use of automated license plate readers. It prohibits state or local police departments from hiring former federal law enforcement officers found guilty of misconduct, and requires 480 hours of training before officers can be hired by state agencies.

It also gives the state inspector general the right to investigate the use of deadly force by federal agents, and removes immunity from officers who arrest or assault someone taking photos or videotaping their actions.

After passing the Senate, the bill was debated in the House for two days before passing 91-57 along party lines. No Republicans voted in favor.

“Many thanks to everyone who made this possible by testifying, showing up, and spreading the word,” said Tabitha Sookdeo, naming “CT For All organizations that worked tirelessly, members and staff at CT Students for a Dream, ACLU of CT, Husky for Immigrants, Hartford Deportation Defense, Make the Road CT, NHFT, 32 BJ SEIU, SEIU 1199 NE, CT AFL-CIO, GHIAA, and more.”

The Connecticut AFL-CIO joined in support of the rights of immigrant workers. “This bill is a vital step in ensuring that ICE is held accountable to Connecticut’s laws,” said president Ed Hawthorne. “It serves as a reminder that when we raise our voices against injustice, we create real change.”

US-Mexico Border and Race Symposium

by Michelle Zacks, Associate Director, Gilder Lehrman Center

Scheduled for Saturday, May 2, this is a one-day symposium at Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave., free and open to the public, called The US-Mexico Border and Race, Past and Present. It is organized by the Gilder Lehrman Center in close collaboration with GLC Associate Research Scholar, Dr. Melissa Torres (Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). The symposium features a keynote address by Prof. Sonia Hernandez (Texas A&M), followed by two panel discussions and a break-out Q&A session for K-12 teachers. Continental breakfast and lunch will be served, as well as afternoon snacks and beverages.

The program was conceived as a follow-up to the Yale and Slavery project, and the various projects at Yale focusing on the university’s and New Haven’s key roles in the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century. This program will follow that thread by focusing on the xenophobia and white supremacist ideas that have long been embedded in U.S. immigration policy broadly and in the construction and policing of the US-Mexico border in particular. Speakers will connect the histories of violent, racialized border control policies with the contemporary violence of ICE raids, warrantless detention, family separation, concentration camps, deportation, and foreign imprisonment. They also will address how communities within the borderlands continue to develop creative modes to survive and resist these exclusionary forces.

We hope you can join us for this important conversation. For more information, for the full schedule for the day, and to register, please go to bit.ly/4tZBkcu.

SCSU Rally Calls For ICE-Detained Student’s Release

Thomas Breen, April 6, 2026, New Haven Independent

More than 100 students, teachers, and immigrant rights advocates gathered outside of Southern Connecticut State University’s (SCSU) Buley Library Monday [April 6] to speak up for a classmate who was detained by federal immigration agents off campus last week.

photo: Thomas Breen

photo: Thomas Breen

Speaker after speaker on Monday — including co-emcees Justin Farmer and Sam Morrison, students and faculty from SCSU, and organizers from UNITE HERE 217, the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, and Unidad Latina en Acción, among other groups — called for the detained student to be released, for the university to support undocumented students, and for a mass mobilization against the Trump administration in response to the federal government’s immigration crackdown.

[More at https://bit.ly/4tpkTpM.]

 

 

Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide to Be Viewed at Women’s & Gender Studies Conference

by Paula Panzarella, PAMAS

Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide, produced last year by Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS), will be featured at Southern Connecticut State University’s Women’s & Gender Studies Conference.

After the film viewing, there will be a presentation via Zoom by Anita Cameron and audience discussion.

Anita is a disability justice activist who has been involved in social change activism and community organizing for 44 years. As a Black disabled lesbian, Anita has dealt with racisim, sexism, ableism, and homophobia – sometimes combinations of these.

As of this printing, the workshop “Medical Assisted Suicide: A Threat to the Vulnerable” is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 1:45-3 p.m. More information is at https://inside.southernct.edu/womens-and-gender-studies/conferences/2026, or call 203-392-6133.

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