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Yesterday, it was reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided a car wash in Hamden, Connecticut, and took at least seven people into custody.
That prompted Mayor Lauren Garrett to call an emergency press conference attended by State Reps. Laurie Sweet, Josh Elliott, and Steve Winter; State Senators Jorge Cabrera and Gary Winfield; Hamden’s Fire Commission Chair, Legislative Council President, Board of Education Chair, Chief of Police, Town Clerk, and Fire Chief; Legislative Councilperson and Democratic Socialist Abdul-Razak Osmanu; a former probate judge; local clergy and others.
Mayor Garrett called the actions of the Trump Administration and ICE "deplorable" and "disgusting" and further called Trump's presidency "inhumane."
She turned it over to Pastor Jack Perkins Davidson from Spring Glen Church, who served as the moderator.
He thanked the New Haven Immigrants Coalition for "doing the work" which seems to include doxxing ICE officers by reporting their locations, license plates, etc., to their "rapid response" phone line. That message was also delivered in Spanish to the audience.
Pastor Jack opened with a prayer to for the families impacted by the "terror with which we have been governed" and which ICE has "inflicted" by taking away "essential workers" and "pillars of the community" ... and described that community as being built on "inclusivity" and "equity" and "justice" among other things.
Next up was Tabitha Sookdeo, the director of Connecticut Students for a Dream, which advocates for the "undocumented" and soon-to-be-recipient of an “Amistad Award” from the Connecticut People’s World Committee, which is aligned with the Communist Party.
She thinks it’s “not normal” to spend $170 billion on federal immigration enforcement when that is “not something we’re asking for…” and seems to think it’s some sort of infringement on “what it is that we would like to see here in the state” to spend money on federal immigration enforcement.
Reverend Edwin Perez, pastor of Manantial de Gracia ("Spring of Grace") UCC in Hamden, spoke next, greeting folks with “righteous indignation” over the ICE raid. He questioned any Christian who would dare “stand with this abuse” from ICE.
State Rep. Jorge Cabrera started his comments by saying, “you come for one of us, you come for all of us.” Then he complained that the people picked up by ICE “were doing the responsible thing” and “were working” not committing crimes or part of a cartel, just working. He also spoke about the “opportunity” to strengthen the Trust Act in an upcoming legislative session.
The moderator, Pastor Jack, took a moment to tell a story about flyers that showed up in his neighborhood that encouraged residents to call ICE on illegals. His church got together to respond to that with their own signs which said “everyone” was welcome in Hamden, but “bigotry" was not welcome. Pastor Jack then described ICE an “agent of racism,” and said ICE is “not welcome” in Hamden because of its alleged bigotry.
Next up, State Rep. Steve Winter emphasized Cabrera’s comments and noted “the solidarity” in the room. He complained about the “frozen dysfunctional gridlock” in federal government, though failed to recognize his own party’s complicity in that. He thinks they need more money for SNAP and more money for public schools to keep Hamden safe, not ICE raids.
“They will send masked agents into our community to rip people away... from working a simple job at a car wash,” Winter lamented, and then echoed Cabrera’s comments on not just the “opportunity” to strengthen the Trust Act in the next legislative session but the “obligation" to do so. He wants to make sure ICE cannot access “private” data that the State of Connecticut maintains, and that law enforcement agents are not allowed to wear masks.
“This creeping authoritarianism, it stops here. It stops today… you come for one of us,” Winter said, and the audience responded, “you come for all of us."
“As I think about another force in history wearing masks in order to disappear people of color, I can’t help but think of the KKK and how it functioned in our society,” Pastor Jack said before complaining about ICE “disappearing our neighbors.”
A representative from Rosa DeLauro’s office, Lou Mangini, read a statement from the purple-haired Congresswoman that blamed President Trump on “escalating tensions” through “aggressive tactics” that cause “fear” among immigrant communities.
Abdul-Razak Osmanu essentially said that the town of Hamden doesn't tolerate "masked men" who are "terrorizing" the community and "kidnapping" residents.
Reverend Emily Scott from First Presbyterian in New Haven complained that everyone at the car wash had just been "disappeared" without a trace, including a customer.
"Here in our community of Hamden and New Haven, my neighbors are being swept away without a trace by masked bullies who are dressed like they are fighting a war," said Scott. "But this is not a war zone."
She said when she watched the video of the raid, she saw masked "criminals who were terrorizing ordinary folks." Yes, she thinks ICE agents are the criminals.
"Do masks and raids and violence and zip ties and broken car windows and terrorized communities look like loving our neighbor?" wondered Scott who feels we are in a "moral crisis" because people who broke federal immigration law to come to the United States are being returned their home countries.
Council president Dominique Baez, the endorsed democrat candidate for Hamden Mayor, was absolutely furious that ICE had the nerve to come to her neighborhood to "steal" people. In English and Spanish, she raged about how she thought the city's "welcoming city" ordinance and the state's Trust Act would have protected everyone, including illegals. She called ICE's activities "federal intimidation" and "not justice."
"We condemn it. Hamden stands by its people. All of them. And we will not allow strangers to create chaos in our town," Baez said before speaking Spanish. "Fuck ICE!"
Gubernatorial candidate and State Rep. Josh Elliott started off by saying "the othering always starts with immigrants" and couldn't believe "this" was happening in Hamden. He couldn't believe that the national guard was "occupying" places like Chicago "against the will" of the People, either.
"No one in Connecticut had a problem with the seven people that were kidnapped today," claimed Elliott. "Four and a half years ago, on January 6th, insurrectionists went to our Capitol to try to overturn an election. And now those same people, wearing masks, in unmarked vans, are coming to our communities to instill fear in us because this is part of a broader and bigger plan."
"We're seeing as an incursion from the federal government," claimed an angry Elliott. "ICE is not welcome in this town. ICE is not welcome in this state. We openly defy this president for what he's doing to our country, pitting us against each other when we are not enemies. Do not fall for the fiction. Be open and be loud, and make sure that anybody who's not paying attention is paying attention."
Pastor Jack took a moment to "lift up" the campaign to boycott Avelo Airlines for "trafficking people" to "concentration camps in other countries."
Community organizer Kerry Ellington told black and brown documented communities to defend their "undocumented neighbors" so they don't "get disappeared by ICE."
"We are all under attack. And I have a message specifically for our white neighbors and community members. It is not okay to stand idly by. You must get up and put your body on the line," Ellington exclaimed.
"I am going to repeat if you have any level of privilege or entitlement that it's imperative that you put your body on the line, that you disrupt ICE from disappearing people, that you get out of your cars and that you pull your camera phone out," said Ellington before leading the crowd in a chant to "stand up and fight back."
Next a young woman who watched the raid, Rachel, spoke to the crowd.
She attempted to get information from the folks being detained, but an ICE agent "got in her face" and said she was "going to end up just like them" if she "interfered or obstructed what they were doing."
She called the ICE agent an "evil bastard," said they had "no right" to detain people, and then attempted to interfere again, prompting a second ICE agent to intervene and have words with Rachel. She said the agent walked away "in embarrassment" and claimed he started to "smack his hind side like a monkey to taunt" her.
A labor organizer from Connecticut Drivers United, Alex Johnson, spoke next.
She accepts the "privilege she has" as a white citizen and recognizes that is something that "black and brown" immigrant drivers who work for 18-20 hours a day "do not have." She lamented drivers getting targeted where they work.
The Mayor came back to take a few questions from the audience.
One resident complained about ICE "gearing up" in a public park to go "kidnap people" and then proceeded to explain how she doxxed the agents, took pictures of the agents and the license plates, and warned the nearby Hispanic church not to have service that night because she was afraid that ICE was there to raid the church.
The Mayor thanked the woman for making the warning phone calls.
Another person from the audience called for "mass class struggle" to oppose ICE and to get people into the street to fight ICE with mass demonstrations and mass marches.
Pastor Jack said amen to that.
You can watch the full briefing below.
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