As President-Elect Donald Trump pledges to carry out the “largest deportation program in American history,” Attorney General William Tong and more than 50 immigrants, community organizers, faith leaders and elected officials rallied at the State Capitol Monday to pledge Connecticut’s commitment to immigrant communities.
“It is the policy and it is the law of the state of Connecticut to respect, honor, and protect immigrants and immigrant families here in Connecticut, period, full stop,” Tong said.
While Tong said he anticipates that Trump’s second term will be “much worse and much more aggressive” when it comes to immigration policy, Tong said he is confident that advocates and partners are ready “to stand with and protect as many people as we can.”
“We went through this the first time with the Muslim ban, the border wall and we are even more ready now, today,” Tong said. “Democratic attorneys general are meeting this week. … We’ve been preparing and working on this for a long time.”
At the rally, Tong promised to fight against federal attempts to overstep Connecticut laws from immigration to reproductive rights to LGBTQ+ rights.
“This is the sovereign state of Connecticut,” Tong said. “Constitutional Law 101 — we delegated limited powers to the federal government, but beyond those powers, Connecticut gets to decide how Connecticut wants to live.”
Tong said his office would work with the legislature this session to evaluate and strengthen state laws that protect immigrant families, including the Trust Act, which heavily restricts state and local law enforcement’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration agents.
During the press conference, Tong took a moment to dispel myths that the legislation protects those who commit violent crimes.
“The Trust Act does not protect and shield violent offenders,” Tong said. “If you are accused, prosecuted, incarcerated for an A or B felony, the Trust Act does not apply to you, period.”
“The Trust Act says that the federal government has authority over immigration law and enforcement. … That’s their job. It’s not our job,” Tong said. “The federal government can’t come into Connecticut and commandeer state resources (and) state law enforcement to do their job for them, and they can’t tell us to do their job for them.”
Tong also spoke against calls from Republicans in the state to suspend HUSKY Medicaid coverage for income-qualifying undocumented children under the age of 15.
Republican lawmakers called for an end to the program after the Office of Policy and Management reported that higher-than-budgeted caseloads for undocumented children covered by HUSKY are contributing to a $9 million shortfall as analysts project a $220 million deficit in Connecticut’s Medicaid account.
After the press conference, House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora and Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding issued a joint statement responding to the rally.
“Most people agree our nation’s immigration system is broken, and here in Connecticut, Republicans understand the serious financial strain it places on our state. Funding for essential programs and services is at risk as Medicaid costs—particularly free healthcare for illegal immigrants—continue to surge. But instead of tackling these challenges, Democrats are plotting to undo the fiscal guardrails entirely, not just to preserve this costly benefit but to fund their broader, unsustainable agenda. Ignoring these fiscal realities would take us back to the reckless practices of the past, jeopardizing Connecticut’s hard-earned financial stability. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for an unsecure border and unchecked spending while Democrats refuse to implement responsible reforms,” Candelora and Harding said.
At the rally, the mayors of Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk and Stamford vowed to protect immigrant communities, celebrating the hardworking, tax-paying, law-abiding residents whom they said add to the strength and diversity of their cities.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, who is the son of Sri Lankan refugees and is an immigrant himself, spoke against arguments that deportations would make cities safer.
“As mayors, we know what it takes … to build safe communities,” Arulampalam said. “We have a long way to go, but we are making safer, better, more invested-in cities, and we should keep that funding up and we shouldn’t go after those who are working hard to make this country better.”
“Going after hardworking immigrants in our communities is not going to keep us safe. It’s not going to lead to safe communities, it’s going to lead to more fear and uncertainty,” Arulampalam said.
Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons emphasized the importance of maintaining “trust between local law enforcement and our immigrant community to help keep our cities safe.”
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said residents need “to feel safe to call the police to report a crime,” access health care and receive an education.
“During the pandemic, it became overwhelmingly clear that your health impacts my health. We want our residents to access health care. We want to make sure that our children, all of our children, are getting a high-quality education. It’s not only practical, but it is about our values,” Elicker said.
Kika Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center, said advocates are preparing for military mobilization, internment camps, threats to sanctuary cities and states, the repeal of birthright citizenship and an end to undocumented students’ right to a free public education.
Matos said advocates and allies are not “going to let them do that in Connecticut.”
“It’s time for all of us in Connecticut to get ready for what I’m calling the battle of our lifetimes,” Matos said. “Our cities and towns should be putting plans in place, be it ordinances or policies or emergency readiness (plans), to support and protect immigrants. Our legislature needs to be working to strengthen the Trust Act, and our governor should be ready to get our state (prepared) so that it responds effectively and ferociously to any attacks against our immigrants.”
After the 2016 election, Matos said immigrant rights groups, state and local officials, “places of worship who offered sanctuary,” and residents allowed Connecticut to stand “up to Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.”
“It is because of those efforts that immigrant communities escaped the worst harms,” Matos said. “It’s up to us to step it up and do it all over again.”
More than 60 local organizations have formed a statewide steering committee to mobilize around immigrant rights and resources, according to Tabitha Sookdeo, the executive director of Connecticut Students for a DREAM, who was born in Guyana and came to America “as an undocumented teenager” after immigrating to the U.S. from Sint Maarten with her family.
Sookdeo said that the committee is meeting with elected officials, “convening lawyers” and developing “know your rights” training materials and resources that community members can access at schools, libraries and “social service bulletins.”
“We know there is a long road ahead and that we must act swiftly to coordinate strategies that protect immigrants in our states to bolster coalitions and to align our principles. There is much work to be done and we need your help,” Sookdeo said.
Sookdeo called on Connecticut residents to donate, volunteer and “look into the eyes of… immigrants and … see our humanity.”
“As immigrants, we are your neighbors. We are your classmates. We wait behind you in the grocery store lines thinking of what to cook for our families,” Sookdeo said. “We dream of a better future, not only for our children, but also for yours. We live in the same community and pray for the health and success of this nation because this is our home too.”
From his podium on the Capitol steps, Tong paused to point out a brick building on Hartford’s skyline.
“That’s 600 Asylum (Ave.),” Tong said. “600 Asylum is the apartment building that my mom stayed in (on) her first night in America. That’s where it started for all of us.”
Tong, the first Chinese American in the nation to be elected attorney general, was also the first U.S. citizen in his family.
“Shortly before I was born, my dad was nearly deported because my dad, like a lot of people, had a complicated immigration history,” Tong said. “If this happened to us today, people would call him undocumented. They would say he’s illegal. And still to this day, I know in my heart there’s nothing illegal about what my father did, about what my parents did, about what they hoped for me and my sisters and our family. They ran for their lives, like a lot of people, and found their way of all places to Hartford, Connecticut.”
Tong said his parents became U.S. citizens after his father “was given a chance” under the Nixon administration by “a more sane and thoughtful and fair and compassionate immigration system.”
Today, when politicians and the public talk about undocumented and illegal immigrants, Tong said they are talking about his family.
“(When) they say that they’re going to denaturalize American citizens, they’re talking about my parents and my grandparents,” Tong said. “When they attack the American-born children of immigrants — people who are born here with birthright citizenship — and they talk about denying those children birthright citizenship, they’re talking about me.”
“That’s why this fight is so personal for all of us. It’s about people, real people (and) families … across Connecticut,” Tong said. “They’re not just some other people who live somewhere else, who aren’t part of our communities (or) aren’t part of our lives. They are us.”
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