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By Kristi Talmadge
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a powerful federal lawsuit against the State of Connecticut, Governor Ned Lamont, Attorney General William Tong, the City of New Haven, and Mayor Justin Elicker.
The suit directly challenges the state's so-called "Trust Act" and New Haven's "Welcoming City" executive order, sanctuary policies that openly interfere with federal immigration enforcement and violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
These policies prioritize shielding illegal immigrants over public safety.
Connecticut's Trust Act, enacted in 2013 and tightened in 2019, prohibits state and local law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers in most cases. Officers cannot detain individuals solely based on a civil immigration detainer unless ICE provides a judicial warrant, the person has a serious felony conviction (Class A or B), or they are on the terrorist watchlist.
The law also restricts information sharing with federal authorities and bars local police from assisting ICE in jails or performing immigration functions. New Haven's 2020 executive order reinforces this by limiting city employees' cooperation with immigration enforcement, effectively creating a safe haven for those here illegally.
The consequences have been deadly and devastating. These rules have "allowed dangerous criminals to be released into Connecticut communities," as the DOJ states.
In one horrific case, 2-year-old Liam Rivera of Stamford was beaten to death in January 2023, his tiny body buried in a shallow grave in Cummings Park. His father, Guatemalan illegal immigrant Edgar Ismalej-Gomez, had previously been convicted of seriously abusing the infant by breaking his arm and was let out of prison early. Instead of being transferred to ICE federal custody for deportation under the Trust Act's sanctuary protections, Gomez was released back into the community on probation. Liam would almost certainly be alive today without these policies shielding his killer.
In New Haven itself, Guatemalan illegal alien Ludvi Carias-Interiano, previously deported at least twice, brutally sexually assaulted a woman jogging in Fort Hale Park in August 2025, holding a box cutter to her throat. DNA evidence later linked him to prior sexual assaults of minors in Texas. ICE lodged a detainer after his arrest, but New Haven's sanctuary rules had already let him roam free to commit this nightmare attack.
Just months earlier in Danbury, four Ecuadorian illegal immigrants were busted in a March 2025 raid on a Chappelle Street apartment. Local news initially downplayed it as a routine "brothel bust," but federal prosecutors charged multiple men, including Stanlin Daniel Vasquez-Salinas, with sex trafficking minors, involving at least two teenage girls. These predators exploited vulnerable children while state policies blocked full cooperation with ICE, allowing illegal re-entrants to operate with impunity.
And in December 2025, Ecuadorian national Christian Espinosa-Sarango, an illegal immigrant, was arrested in North Haven for sexual assault, illegal sexual contact with a child, and enticing minors. ICE issued a detainer, but Connecticut's sanctuary policies prevented local authorities from holding him. He was released back onto the streets and only rearrested by ICE in February 2026.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the DOJ's Civil Division put it bluntly: “For years, Connecticut communities have paid the price of these misguided sanctuary policies. This lawsuit seeks to end such open defiance of federal law.” The suit is part of a broader Trump administration crackdown on sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide.
Predictably, Connecticut's Democratic Party officials are doubling down on defiance rather than accountability.
Attorney General William Tong called the lawsuit "baseless" and "federal overreach," claiming Connecticut is "not a sanctuary state" and vowing to "fight this lawless attack with every fiber of our being" to "defend Connecticut families."
Mayor Elicker dismissed the claims as "untrue" and "misleading," insisting New Haven follows federal law, while announcing the city will "fight this lawsuit with all we’ve got." Elicker failed to mention the forced resignation (firing) of whistleblower Patricia Clark for revealing the mass illegal immigrant and noncitizen marriage fraud taking place under his nose in City Hall, because she contacted Federal Authorities in defiance of his "Welcoming City" Sanctuary State order.
Governor Lamont has long defended the Trust Act as a public safety measure that keeps police focused on "serious crimes," rejecting any "sanctuary" label. None of these Democrats care about the safety of American Citizens and Legal Immigrants.
This lawsuit is long overdue. Sanctuary policies don't just flout federal law. They actively endanger law-abiding Americans by releasing criminal illegal aliens who should be deported.
Innocent children like Liam Rivera, joggers in public parks, teenage sex trafficking victims, and countless families in Connecticut have suffered the real-world costs while politicians play politics.
The DOJ is right to demand enforcement of immigration laws that protect our borders and our people. Americans deserve safety first. Not open borders by another name.
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