ICE releases new details about Stamford courthouse arrests, but questions remain
The video first aired by News 12 Connecticut has been viewed thousands of times. Now, ICE is revealing details about two men arrested outside the Stamford courthouse on Monday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is revealing new details about an arrest inside the Stamford courthouse parking garage on Monday.
The video has now been shared thousands of times on social media, and is prompting questions from state leaders.
ARREST VIDEOS
Federal agents swarmed the garage at Stamford Superior Court on Monday afternoon, pinning a man to the ground and taking him into custody as bystanders shouted and filmed video of the arrest.
“Woosh! In seconds, there were five cars surrounding this man and his wife in a car,” said Lizzie Eifler, with Stamford Norwalk United For Immigrants.
The video appears to show four officers, three of whom are wearing FBI vests, apprehending the man on the ground as he cries out for help.
In one clip shared on Facebook, an agent shouts to a woman, “You're f***ing next. Shut your mouth.”
Eifler said the organization is seeing similar arrests on a regular basis.
“We’re not being shown any warrants. As far as we know they don’t have warrants,” she said. “Nobody shows a badge, nothing.”
ICE RESPONDS
ICE now says that two “criminal illegal aliens” were arrested at the Stamford courthouse.
According to the agency, Joaquin Alberto Ramirez-Jimenez was previously charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer – but ICE offered no details about where or when those charges occurred.
Ramirez-Jimenez, who is from Colombia, currently has a criminal case pending in state court. But the file is sealed, most likely due to a pending dismissal or participation in an Accelerated Rehabilitation program.
The other man, Rolando Estuardo Roldan, pleaded guilty in a New York City mortgage fraud case in 2012 and was sentenced to six months of home confinement.
The Guatemala native currently faces a misdemeanor sexual assault charge in Greenwich. According to an arrest warrant, a friend of Roldan’s daughter told police that he “inappropriately touched her” several times and tried “to groom her ... for a year.”
Neither case mentions Roldan being in the country illegally.
“Under President Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
ICE did not provide details about Ramirez-Jimenez and Roldan’s current status.
“I WAS HORRIFIED”
The arrests come just one month after Connecticut implemented a new policy restricting ICE arrests inside state courthouses. Arrests are now banned unless ICE has a warrant signed by a judge – not simply an administrative detainer.
Also, agents can no longer wear masks to conceal their identity unless it’s “medically necessary.”
In the video, one agent’s face is covered and no warrant appears to be shown.
“I was horrified,” said state Rep. Steve Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport). “The policy right now only says ICE should not make an arrest inside a courthouse. So technically, this arrest does not appear, on its face, to be a violation of the policy.”
Stafstrom helped create the new policy as co-chair of the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee. It was prompted by another incident at the Stamford courthouse, where ICE agents allegedly stormed a bathroom.
“Unfortunately, the policy is just a policy. It is our hope that ICE will abide by it, so as not to cause disruption and chaos inside our courthouses,” Stafstrom said. “Apparently, they’ve taken it to mean it’s okay to cause disruption and chaos in the parking garage outside the courthouse.”
ICE did not answer questions about whether agents had a criminal warrant.
Gov. Ned Lamont wants answers.
“As you know, we have very strict rules about arrests in our courthouse,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “They have to have a judicial warrant. Even then, I don’t want them in the courthouse and they certainly can’t wear a mask.”
