'This is scary stuff.' Immigrant advocates protest 'ICE overreach' in Stamford
Community leaders spoke loud and clear in the sweltering heat.
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Dozens of immigrant rights activists took the steps of Stamford Superior Court Thursday evening.
"I’m just so disgusted by the fact that ICE went into the courthouse, and took two people who were here for their hearings," said Gail Berritt, of Westport.
"This is scary stuff," says immigration lawyer Phil Berns.
Community leaders spoke loud and clear in the sweltering heat.
“ICE has escalated their intensive terrorization of the immigrant community right here in this spot, at this courthouse and throughout Fairfield County," said the Rev. Terri Dennehy, of Unitarian Universal Congregation in Stamford.
Stamford Norwalk United with Immigrants organized the event.
The group says ICE agents are engaging in tactics that go against the State’s Trust Act.
Berns says he wants people who ICE isn’t specifically looking for to know what their constitutional rights are.
“You do not have to answer questions, you do not have to speak at all," Berns says. "You can protest being searched without your permission: that goes for yourself, your belongings, your car, your house, etc."
Activists are calling for immediate policy changes across the state and for the governor to do more.
“I’d like to have all (ICE agents) masks removed as a requirement to come into this state," Berritt says. "I’d like to make it very clear that arrests can only be made with warrants, and that courthouses, schools, churches and places like that are all safe."
