MERIDEN, CT — More than 100 people rallied across the street from the Meriden courthouse Thursday evening, Oct. 1, the day a new state law began requiring a judicial warrant for civil immigration arrests at schools, hospitals and houses of worship.
The law, Public Act 26-14, covers custody based on a civil offense, including an immigration violation; it does not bar officers from entering those places. It also limits how long automated license plate reader data may be kept and which states Connecticut may share it with, WFSB reported.
A courthouse arrest brought the crowd
The rally answered a Sept. 23 arrest inside the Meriden courthouse, where masked federal agents carried an administrative warrant rather than one signed by a judge, the Connecticut Mirror reported. Speakers asked state officials to strengthen and enforce the Trust Act, which limits when state agencies may turn people in their custody over to ICE; to set one protocol for how state and local officers deal with the agency; and to put $50 million toward legal help for people caught up in immigration enforcement.
Meriden City Council member Yvette Cortez said state police were looking into whether court marshals broke the law by letting the agents make the arrest without proper documentation. "I do have an expectation that a thorough investigation is completed," she told the crowd, according to the Mirror.
The ACLU of Connecticut told the Mirror that whether the arrest violated state law is still an "open question," because the man was never in state custody and many Trust Act provisions apply only to people who are.