Immigrant Advocates Demand Action from CT Lawmakers as ICE Announces Arrests from 4-Day Operation
by Daniela Doncel, Aug. 20, Connecticut Public Radio
[Excerpts from article]
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 [Aug. 20], Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Boston confirmed that 65 people were apprehended by ICE in Connecticut over four days this month.
Family members of one of these taken individuals spoke at the rally. Edwin Andres Calva-Guaman was taken into ICE custody last week at the Danbury Superior Courthouse, according to his sister Monica Apolinario.
“[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.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal faced 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 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 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.
In response to the uptick in ICE activity, Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants has organized a petition with demands for state elected officials. 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.
[The entire article is at https://tinyurl.com/mr2kutbp]