Immigration activists swarmed around a vehicle parked near the New Haven Superior Court on Monday to protest an alleged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
The group was led by Connecticut’s chapter of Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA), an immigration activist organization.
Brian Timko, a volunteer and coordinator with ULA, was in the courthouse at the time, accompanying an immigrant. He said that while he was in the courthouse, he found out that there was a vehicle outside that might belong to an ICE officer. Timko sent the message through “rapid response networks” and an encrypted group chat with 250 people.
Within 10 minutes of sending out the messages, other activists arrived, Timko said. Another immigrant advocacy group, New Haven Immigrant, was already in the area.
Videos from ULA’s YouTube channel show that there were at least six people at the scene blowing whistles, shouting “ICE out of Connecticut,” videotaping the car and the man inside, and attempting to speak with him.
Timko believes this was an ICE officer because the man looked like he was wearing a bulletproof vest and was in a personal vehicle. Inside Investigator cross-referenced the license plate from the car with Connecticut’s Department of Motor Vehicles and confirmed that this was a personal vehicle, and not a rental or a city-owned car.
A Facebook post from New Haven Immigrant, another immigrants’ rights organization, claimed that his vest said “ICE.” Timko could not confirm these details because the car’s windows were tinted, he said.
Timko said that the man’s behavior—not talking to the protestors, not denying that he was an ICE officer, and videotaping them with his phone—validated his suspicion.
A Public Information Officer (PIO) from the Connecticut State Police said that the vehicle did not belong to the agency, and the man inside was not a State Trooper. New Haven Police Department PIO Christian Bruckhart said officers rarely operate without uniforms on, they always carry badges, and do not use a personal vehicle for official police business.
ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment.
“The positive thing is that he left the area,” Timko said.
In other parts of the country, anti-ICE protesters have been arrested for obstructing justice. Timko is not worried about whether or not ULA may be breaking the law.
“I am not concerned because the federal government is not concerned about legality,” Timko said.
In November, Connecticut legislators passed a law requiring law enforcement officers to get judicial warrants before making civil immigration arrests—arresting people who violated immigration laws, but not other criminal statutes—in and near courthouses. However, ICE is a federal law enforcement agency and is not beholden to state laws.
Two weeks ago, two ICE agents entered the New Haven courthouse and arrested a man.
To Bruckhart, this arrest was not unusual. He was a detective in the NHPD’s Special Victims Unit for about a year during Trump’s first term, and he said that while working in that position, he saw ICE agents make arrests at courthouses.
Timko has returned to the courthouse to accompany immigrants since Monday. He has not seen the car again.
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Idiots and lawbreakers. If you come into this country illegally, that is a crime. If you interfere with those enforcing immigrations laws, you are committing a crime. Enough of this nonsense! If these so-called activists can cause all this disruption, all of us can, and they might not like their tactics applied against them. This is myopic empathy that ends up harming us all.