by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — When people enter a courthouse, it is important that they feel safe, Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday. Sometimes those people may be undocumented immigrants, but that doesn’t change the importance of their safety, he said.
“In many cases they’re going into our courthouses as a witness to a crime,” he said. “Maybe they’ve been a victim of abuse, maybe it’s something regarding a landlord. Whatever it is, people should feel safe going into the courthouse. When you go into a courthouse, you’re going there because you want to do the right thing.”
Lamont, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Raheem Mullins and state Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, attended a media briefing at the State Capitol to announce a series of changes to security at state courthouses. The move is in response to a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions at courthouses, including one in Stamford where masked ICE agents reportedly stormed a state courthouse despite a judicial marshal telling them not to pass and asking them to show him a warrant. The agents then broke a bathroom door and apprehended two men who were inside.
Mullins said judges, staff, litigants and members of the public must be able to conduct business in courthouses without fear of disruption.
“The due administration of justice requires that courthouse security be protected,” he said. “I’m issuing this policy today to ensure that law enforcement activity in our courthouses is consistent with these principles while ensuring that law enforcement officers can discharge their duties.”
The policy Mullins announced prohibits warrantless arrests in the public spaces of courthouses and bans law enforcement officials from wearing masks while conducting their duties.
State Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, speaks about courthouse policy changes on Sept, 16, 2025. Credit: Donald Eng / CTNewsJunkie
Stafstrom, who cochairs the Judiciary Committee, said justice should not depend on immigration status.
“If you are a victim of a crime, if you are someone who believes they have been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous creditor, if you’re someone who believes they are wrongfully being evicted from their house, if you are someone who seeks a divorce from an abusive spouse, you should be able to enter a courthouse in this state free of fear that when you try to achieve justice, a masked, unmarked individual is going to grab you and pull you out of the courthouse based on your perceived immigration status,” he said.
Stafstrom said critics of the new policy would cite examples of people who have committed serious crimes.
“Those people can still be arrested,” he said. “They have been arrested. They’re facing the charges they’ve been charged with. That is not the vast majority of folks that come into our courthouse. The vast majority of folks are those seeking civil help, family help, landlord-tenant type issues.”
Stafstrom added he would push to have the new policy codified in legislation when the General Assembly next convenes.
In a written statement state Sen. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, said the Judicial Branch “made this decision in consultation with ICE in an attempt to ensure the safety and security of courthouses and those that visit them. That’s their right to do.”
But Harding also again cited state officials’ statements that Connecticut is not a sanctuary state. He called Connecticut “the very definition” of a sanctuary state and criticized the changes to the state’s Trust Act, which among other things limits communication between state law enforcement and federal officials on immigration status.
In response to a question about what judicial marshals were expected to do should armed and masked ICE agents attempt to enter a courthouse, Stafstrom said residents should be realistic in their expectations about the policy.
“What it says is coming into a crowded courthouse on Tuesday morning with a bunch of other folks around — court staff, other visitors to the courthouse — and grabbing someone with a show of armed force in that location is not safe to the public and is, frankly, not the best location to conduct that,” he said.
But Stafstrom also clarified that the policy essentially amounted to a request that ICE respect that state’s courthouses. Legislative action could take the route of making such actions tantamount to trespassing or breach of peace.
“Certainly, we are not going to put our marshals in the situation of an armed standoff with an ICE agent,” he said. “We are not going to be able to stop 12 armed ICE agents from storming the front door of a courthouse if that’s the level that the federal government wants to stoop to.”