by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut officials are standing by a law limiting immigration officials’ actions in the state after the federal Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday against Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont, Attorney General William Tong, Chief State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin, and Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Eliot Prescott, challenging Senate Bill 397.
Lamont deferred questions about the lawsuit to Tong’s office. Tong issued a simple statement in response.
“The state’s actions are both fully lawful and necessary to protect public safety and we will vigorously defend the law,” he said.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche called the law anti-law enforcement and said it was designed to create risk for the department’s agents.
“These laws cannot stand,” he said.
The new law also violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett Shumate.
“State interference with federal operations is precisely what the Supremacy Clause was intended to prevent, as the Supreme Court has recognized for centuries,” he said.
In a statement the department decried the new law’s requirements that federal officers not cover their faces with masks, wear a badge and name tag and adhere to Connecticut’s use-of-force policies.
The department has filed similar lawsuits against other states, including New York, New Jersey and California.
In a May 4 ceremony where Lamont signed SB 397 into law, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said the bill was rooted in the concept that no one is above the law.
“Here in the Constitution State, the Constitution applies to everyone,” she said.
In addition to the restrictions on masks and the requirement to wear identification, the law bans warrantless arrests in places like schools, hospitals and places of worship, and makes federal agencies liable when their officers interfere with a person taking a photo or video of another officer carrying out their duty.
The bill passed the Senate 24-10 along party lines, and the House 91-54 with a handful of Democrats and every Republican voting against it.
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, had criticized the bill, saying it invited the kind of lawsuit that the federal government filed Friday.
“My concern is it’s sending the wrong message to law enforcement in the state of Connecticut,” Candelora said before the House began debate on the bill. “Ultimately I think Connecticut is going to be worse off for it.”
Lamont in the days after the bill passed said people should not fear for their safety when visiting hospitals, schools, and religious and government buildings.
“The provisions included in this bill include commonsense measures to protect peoples’ constitutional rights from federal overreach,” he said.
Attorney General William Tong also at the time issued a statement that the bill made all public officials accountable for civil rights violations.
“It is the policy of the State of Connecticut to respect, honor and protect immigrants and immigrant families in compliance with state and federal law,” Tong said. “This legislation reflects the unremarkable and uncontroversial proposition that no one is above the law. Not here in Connecticut and not anywhere else in this country.”