HARTFORD, CT — More than a hundred protesters shut down traffic on Main Street in Hartford for two hours during the rush hour commute Wednesday afternoon as they demanded that ICE agents leave Connecticut.
Protesters shut down Hartford’s Main Street for an anti-ICE rally on June 4, 2026. Credit: Jamil Ragland / CTNewsJunkie
The No To ICE protest, organized by Hands Off Connecticut, took place in the street in front of the Abraham A. Ribicoff Federal Building at 450 Main Street. Protesters chanted, sang songs and ultimately staged a sit-in on the street.
Drivers who were diverted due to the protest were generally supportive, with several honking their horns in support of the crowd’s anti-ICE message.
Sam Pudlin, one of the organizers of the protest, said the aim was to draw awareness to the fact that the federal building is home to the ICE Boston Hartford Field Office, serving as the epicenter for what he called illegal immigration raids across the state.
Protesters shut down Hartford’s Main Street for an anti-ICE rally on June 4, 2026. Credit: Jamil Ragland / CTNewsJunkie
“What we’ve seen lately is ICE has been breaking Connecticut law,” he said. “We don’t have secret police in this country. They’re not allowed to be unidentified, they’re not allowed to wear masks in courthouses and they’ve been doing all of that.”
ICE has been involved in several controversial arrests in Connecticut. Most recently, ICE agents arrested Rihan, the son of an Afghan interpreter who entered the United States legally on a humanitarian visa. Zia, the boy’s father, was himself arrested a year before his son. Both have since been released.