By Joshua Eaton, Staff Writer
Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 100 people across Connecticut this week, according to the immigration rights group Danbury Unites for Immigrants — with most of those arrests in Danbury itself. The agency has not yet confirmed specific details of most of those arrests that are, nor the total number.
“This has to stop,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement after video posted to social media showed ICE agents using a Taser on a man in Danbury on Thursday morning, sending him to the hospital. In a statement, ICE said the man was resisting officers and had reached for a pocketknife.
That sentiment expressed the outrage felt by many local residents, advocates and Democratic elected officials who gathered in Danbury at a press conference Wednesday night to voice their concerns. Local activists and city officials described a pall of fear cast over Danbury’s immigrant community, with people afraid to leave their houses or patronize local immigrant-owned businesses.
For its part, ICE has consistently declined to comment on the operation other than the Taser-related incident, citing “operational security and the safety of our officers.” But in the past, the agency has said it’s arresting people who entered or remained in the United States illegally — at least some of whom it has said have dangerous criminal histories.
“Under President Trump and (Homeland Security) Secretary (Markwayne) Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” ICE said in statements to CT Insider this week. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
Other videos posted online from Danbury showed ICE agents struggling to subdue several men next to a mechanic’s shop; and agent threatening to pepper spray a man they were detaining in front of a preschool if he did not put his arms behind his back; and children on a school bus filming an ICE arrest.
Despite the press conferences and the videos, there’s still a lot not known about ICE’s operation in Connecticut this week. Here’s a rundown.
What happened with ICE in Danbury?
The week began with an sharp uptick in arrests by ICE in Danbury, Stamford and other Connecticut cities close to the New York border.
At the press conference in Danbury on Wednesday, DUFI said it had confirmed at least 16 arrests there Monday.
Gov. Ned Lamont confirmed the Monday arrests in a statement hours after they reportedly happened and said they did not appear to be targeted at violent criminals.
Taylor O’Brien, chief of staff for Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves, said in an email Monday that ICE did not inform city officials in advance that it would be carrying out enforcement operations there.
By Tuesday — the first day of school in Danbury and Stamford — videos of arrests were circulating online. One showed five ICE agents attempting to wrestle a man’s arms behind his back as he was lying on the street in front of a preschool center in Danbury, his arms folded underneath him.
“You’re going to get sprayed,” a masked agent said on the video as he pointed a canister of what appeared to be pepper spray at the man’s face.
“Put your arms out,” another agent said.
A separate video posted to Instagram showed what appeared to be a lone ICE agent wrestled with a man in the middle of the street next to an auto shop as he told the man to stop resisting. A second agent then ran over to assist.
Later in the same video, the first ICE agent can be seen holding a Taser over the man as he lies prone on the street with his arms handcuffed behind his back. It’s not clear from the video whether the officer deployed the Taser.
Then, on Wednesday, reports began to circulate that ICE agents had arrested a group of family members immediately after they put their child on a school bus. That prompted the press conference in Danbury on Wednesday evening with local advocates and Democratic elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, who has posted on social media and spoken on national TV about the incident.
Meanwhile DHS denied the allegation.
“Any claim that ICE targeted parents at a school bus stop is FALSE,” the department said in an unsigned statement Thursday. “Unsurprisingly, Senator Murphy’s narrative is a work of fiction aimed at scoring cheap political points at the expense of our officers.”
The agency said it arrested 28-year-old Leonel Geovanny Morocho-Arteaga, of Ecuador, on Wednesday while he was driving. Morocho-Arteaga entered the United States without inspection — a federal crime — and was released after encountering U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents during the administration of former President Joe Biden, according to DHS.
“The vehicle stop did not take place in the vicinity of a bus stop, and (the man) was alone,” the statement said. “During the arrest, officers discovered a large kitchen knife in the center console.”
The statement added that ICE “confirmed that the child is under the guardianship of her mother.” However, it did not say how that child was related to the man’s arrest.
Taser used by ICE in Danbury