The Trump Administration's federal deportation machine is tearing apart families and communities in Connecticut. Our state's safety, health, and values are better served by opting out of participation in this cruel system. We therefore support this bill to strengthen the TRUST Act and ensure that state and local law enforcement are not feeding the federal deportation machine.
By strengthening Connecticut's TRUST Act to prohibit state and local law enforcement from serving federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers without a valid federal judicial warrant, this bill focuses local law enforcement on local priorities, not the federal government's deportation agenda. The law is clear: if ICE wishes to detain or deport someone, it can expend its own resources and time doing so. Local and state law enforcement are under no obligation to assist with this process. Local and state police do not need to arrest, transport, or detain people for ICE, nor do local jails, courthouses, or prisons need to allow ICE to roam their facilities.
The pain and fear that the federal government’s deportation agenda is wreaking on immigrant communities is undeniable, and Connecticut should take every step possible to ensure that local and state law enforcement are not parties to this harmful machine.
