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CT Insider – Friday, January 24, 2025
By Alex Putterman
Top state officials sought to reassure Connecticut’s undocumented immigrants this week, while acknowledging the federal government may seek to expel them from the country in the coming months.
“It is the policy of the state of Connecticut to respect, honor and protect immigrants and immigrant families in full compliance with the law,” Attorney General William Tong said. “We’re going to do what we can for immigrants and immigrant families because they’re important to us.”
In the opening days of his new administration, President Donald Trump has issued directives seeking to close the U.S.-Mexico border, limit birthright citizenship, ramp up deportations and authorize immigration authorities to target schools, courthouses and churches. His efforts on birthright citizenship was dealt a blow Thursday by a federal judge, temporarily putting a halt on the plan.
Asked his message for undocumented immigrants in Connecticut in light of these orders, Gov. Ned Lamont said he wanted them to know, “You’re welcome here.”
“My advice is, send your kids to school. My advice is, keep going to church,” Lamont said. “We don’t collect the immigration status of people who are going to church or kids who are at school. Our cops are busy trying to keep the streets safe, they’re not asking the immigration status of somebody who’s caught jaywalking or speeding.”
Tong’s office this week distributed an extensive memo detailing the protections against deportation in Connecticut law, including through a bill known as the Trust Act — passed in 2013 and strengthened in 2019 — that bars state and local authorities from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement in most situations.
Still, the memo included an important caveat, which Tong emphasized again Thursday: The federal government has broad latitude when it comes to immigration enforcement, and Connecticut can do only so much about it.
“Immigration enforcement is a federal prerogative,” the memo said. “Though Connecticut is a sovereign state, Connecticut does not and cannot restrict the activities of federal immigration officials.”
In other words, if Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to detain an undocumented immigrant in Connecticut, nothing in state law will stop them.
Still, how to respond to Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement has become a point of disagreement in Connecticut politics, with debate largely centering on the Trust Act.
At a news conference Thursday in Hartford, Republican lawmakers called for rolling back the law, to allow more cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Currently, the Trust Act allows for exceptions only in cases where an undocumented immigrant has been convicted of certain serious felonies.
“We can serve to assist our federal partners and their scarce resources by getting the most dangerous people out of our communities,” said Rep. Greg Howard, a Republican representing several towns in southeastern Connecticut. “And the current Trust Act prevents that from happening.”
Some advocates and Democratic lawmakers have proposed going in the opposite direction. Members of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday said they would draft a bill to strengthen the Trust Act so that it further protects undocumented immigrants.
In a statement Wednesday night, a coalition of advocacy groups, led by the ACLU of Connecticut, applauded the committee for that step.
“State and local law enforcement have a duty to serve all residents, focusing on building healthy, inclusive communities,” the groups said.
As of now, it’s unclear exactly what a strengthened Trust Act would look like. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, who co-chairs the Judiciary Committee, said Thursday lawmakers have “a desire to take a look at the Trust Act and see whether it’s as protective as we intended to be” but did not offer specifics.
Asked Thursday about Republicans’ objections to the Trust Act, Tong proposed a scenario where a fifth-grader disappears from school.
“What then?” Tong asked. “It’s really easy to talk tough in this building behind a podium. Will they be there for those families? Those are their constituents too. Those are their communities.”
Tong argued there’s no good reason for the state to help federal immigration authorities. The Trust Act, he said, “stands for a very basic proposition that the federal government has authority for immigration law enforcement.”
“That’s their job, it’s not our job,” he said. “Our job is to make sure that our communities are safe and that police officers and first responders have trust with the communities that they serve.”