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Connecticut activists call protest and ‘day without immigrants’ after ICE raids Image: Ted Shaffrey
🇲🇽 Mexico /Culture & Society

Connecticut activists call protest and ‘day without immigrants’ after ICE raids

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • Activists in Danbury, Connecticut, called for a protest and a “day without immigrants” after about 70 residents were detained by ICE in one week.
  • Organizers said businesses would close on Sept. 2, with a rally planned outside the local public library.
  • Local officials and activists said fear of arrests had kept some residents from work, shops and school, while federal officials said ICE was seeking undocumented immigrants with final deportation orders.

Danbury activists have called for a “day without immigrants” after about 70 residents were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a single week. The action is scheduled for Sept. 2, with businesses urged to close and residents asked to stay away from work, school and shops.

We ask you to stand in solidarity. Don't go to work. Don't go to school. Don't go shopping.

— Danbury United For ImmigrantsThe group urged residents and allies to join the Sept. 2 action.

The group Danbury United For Immigrants said arrests took place from Monday through Thursday after dozens of ICE vehicles patrolled the city. It said agents in masks took members of 65 families in locations including outside a day-care center, a supermarket parking lot, near homes and at school-bus stops.

100 or more, perhaps many more, have been detained and only a fraction, perhaps six or seven, had a criminal record.

— Richard BlumenthalThe Democratic senator criticized the scope of the arrests.

Mayor Roberto Alves and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal held a news conference after speaking with residents and visiting businesses on the city's main street. They described immigrants' fear of going to work and sending children to school. Alves said about 700 students were not attending classes because their parents feared arrests at bus stops, according to NBC.

Illegal aliens with final deportation orders

— Tom HomanHoman described the people ICE was seeking.

The protest organizers called for a strike by businesses and a public demonstration outside the local library. "We ask you to stand in solidarity. Don't go to work. Don't go to school. Don't go shopping," the organizers said. Blumenthal accused Donald Trump's administration of failing to limit enforcement to people with serious criminal records, saying that only a small number of those detained appeared to have such histories. Border czar Tom Homan said ICE was looking for "illegal aliens with final deportation orders" because "they are criminals."

They are criminals.

— Tom HomanHoman gave his stated justification for targeting people with final deportation orders.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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