HARTFORD — The Trump administration yesterday released instructions for implementing its mass deportation executive orders. Governor Dannel Malloy and the Connecticut commissioners of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Department of Correction, and State Department of Education today issued guidance for local police chiefs and schools regarding national immigration executive orders.
David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut (ACLU-CT), had this reaction:
“The Trump administration’s deportation memos could open the door to discriminatory profiling in our communities and tear families apart. Any local police department considering partnering with federal immigration agencies to deport Connecticut residents should know that doing so could violate the Constitution and Connecticut TRUST Act. Connecticut police departments should not make the mistake of spreading injustice, fear, and discrimination by becoming parties to deportation. If they do, we are prepared to take them to court.”
In 2011, the City of Danbury lost a $400,000 civil rights lawsuit after a town police officer unjustly detained eleven workers and delivered them to a federal immigration agent. More recently, Connecticut enacted the TRUST Act, which restricts local police participation in federal deportation enforcement.
