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Last week, the Judiciary Committee introduced H.B. No. 7212, An Act Concerning the TRUST Act, to limit the type of information disclosed to federal immigration authorities, and to expand those limitations to all public agencies.

The TRUST Act was originally enacted in 2013, and then updated in 2019.

The proposed bill would remove the following language from Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-192h:

It would be replaced with much more specific language around exactly how and which Connecticut officials can interact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE").

The proposed language prevents law enforcement officers, bail commissioner or intakes, assessment or referral specialists, and/or employees of school police or security departments from:

• Arresting or detaining an individual pursuant to a civil immigration detainer unless it's accompanied by a warrant issued or signed by a judicial officer, the individual has been convicted of a class A or B felony offense or if the individual has been identified as a possible match in the federal Terrorist Screening Database;
• Expending any time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel or other resources to communicate with federal immigration authorities regarding the custody status or release of an individual targeted by a detainer except as provided in the bill;
• Arresting or detaining an individual based on an administrative warrant;
• Giving a federal immigration authority access to interview an individual who is in the custody of a law enforcement agency unless the has been convicted of a class A or B felony offense, is identified as a possible match in the federal Terrorist Screening Database or similar database; or
• Performing any function of a federal immigration authority, whether formal or informal.

The proposed language also prevents the disclosure of a person's immigration status; address; workplace or hours of work; school or school hours; the date, time or location of a person's hearings, proceedings or appointments with the public agency that are not matters of public record, except under certain circumstances (e.g., a signed judicial warrant).

It restricts public agencies and their officers and employees from using interpretation services provided by a federal immigration authority.

And it requires public agencies to report to the Office of Policy and Management on an ongoing basis every six months, data regarding any federal immigration requests for disclosure of information.

The Judiciary Committee is holding a public hearing on H.B.7212 on Wednesday, March 19th, at 10am.

Also on the agenda for tomorrow is H.B. 7211, sponsored by Republican State Reps. Craig C. Fishbein, Donna Veach, and Mark DeCaprio.

H.B. 7211 would permit law enforcement to detain for a limited period a person charged, after a finding of probable cause, with a class A, B, or C felony or a family violence crime for purposes of a civil immigration detainer.

It's worth reminding what qualifies as a Class C felony in Connecticut, including crimes like manslaughter in the second degree, assault in the second degree, sexual assault in the second degree, promoting prostitution in the second degree, assault of various public safety personnel, bribery, forgery, commercial sexual exploitation of a minor, stealing a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal violation of protective orders, and much more.

Senate Republicans Stephen Harding, Eric Berthel, and Rob Sampson said in a statement that the Trust Act has had “disastrous effects” and want to see changes. 

“Try to find anyone on the street, regardless of political affiliation, who supports shielding violent criminal illegal immigrants from federal authorities,” the statement said. “This is common sense, and poll after poll tells us that Republicans are on the right side of this issue. We must address this serious threat to public safety.

Nearly 300 people have submitted testimony in favor of H.B. 7212, while only a couple dozen opposed it.

You still have time to submit written testimony on H.B. 7211 and H.B. 7212, if interested.

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