ICE Arrests Two Criminal Immigrants in Danbury

Federal ICE officers captured two wanted criminals in Danbury during a sweep of 45 people across Connecticut and Massachusetts in late February.

One of the two Danbury men had criminal convictions for forgery, disorderly conduct, assault, operating while impaired by drugs and criminal possesion of a controlled substance in the United States, said ICE Spokesman Ross Feinstein.

The second had criminal convictions for risk of injury to a minor and two larceny convictions, Feinstein said.

Feinstein said both are in ICE custody on administative immigration violations. Both had prior criminal convictions.
 
"This was a targeted enforcement operation targeting convicted criminal aliens who are a public safety threat to the residents of Connecticut," Feinstein wrote in an email to Danbury Patch.

These arrests were in marked contrast to the 2006 arrests of 11 day labors, a case that became known as the Danbury 11 case. In that case, Danbury police and federal officers apparently lured day labors into a van offering them a job. They were questioned, and a five-year lawsuit resulted. This is the Hartford Courant story on the suit, which was filed in 2007.

After a law suit was filed on behalf of the day labors by Yale Law students, the case appeared to raise questions about whether or not those particular people were the target of the enforcement action, or were they chosen at random. In May 2011, the U.S. government and Danbury agreed to pay about $600,000 in damages from those arrests. This a story from the ImmigrationProf Bolg on the settlement of the suit. For an editorial on the suit and its consequences, click here to read the New York Times take on the Danbury 11.

When the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents captured two illegal immigrants in Danbury with a criminal background, Danbury police cooperated in the arrests. These people were targeted by ICE because of both their criminal histories and their illegal immigration status.

That is to be expected, said Police Spokesman Thoms Wendel, because Danbury joined the federal ICE 287(g) program in October 2009. This program is designed to foster cooperation between local law enforcement departments and federal immigration officials. The program was created in 1996 to train local police to identify and detain, if necessary, a person in the country illegally. Danbury has argued it uses the law to detain people who are here illegally who have also committed other crimes. Two Danbury officers received training. ICE officers were in Danbury to make the two arrests in late February.

"We actually worked with them this time," Wendel said.

Feinstein would not identify the pair who were arrested by name, but he said they committed crimes in the United States while being in the United States illegally.

"These arrests are for crimes they did in the United States," Feinstein said.

The two people from Danbury are among 44 charged in an ICE sweep in Connecticut and Massachusetts, ICE said in a prepared press release.

"Operation Threats Against the Community commenced Feb. 24. Forty-four of the individuals taken into custody had prior criminal convictions, including 18 aliens who had multiple criminal convictions. Additionally, 24 of those arrested had felony convictions. Many of these criminal aliens had prior convictions for serious or violent crimes, such as indecent assault and battery of a child, sexual assault, possessing and selling dangerous drugs, drunken driving and larceny charges,'' according to the ICE press release.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the two arrests in Danbury were part of an ICE sweep, and not part of the 287(g) program. He observed that 16 cities and towns in Connecticut cooperated with ICE on this raid, and Danbury is the only city in the state with a 287(g) agreement.

The 287(g) program led to the training of two Danbury Police Detectives, who received four weeks of training in immigration law and enforcement. Since then, as a person was arrested, if police learned the person had outstanding warrants from ICE, Danbury would detain that person on what was called an ICE Detainer.

Because of the 287(g) agreement between ICE and Danbury, a person charged with a crime in Danbury who has a Detainer outstanding, will be held on both offenses until they are resolved in court. The officers are trained in how to check a person's immigration status.

This week's raid contributed to a feeling of fear in Danbury, said Danbury Immigration Attorney Cynthia Exner.

"What happened in the past is people got afraid. A number of people left. What I heard was 'I don't want to live in this atmosphere any more," Exner said. Exner said the lack of communication from ICE and other authorities leads to rumors and more fear in the city.

The last large ICE raid in Danbury came in December 2010, when five people were picked up. Three had outstanding immigration warrants for deportation, said ICE Spokesman Feinstein. One had criminal convictions and the fifth had other immigration violations.

"If you're a criminal and you fled here to avoid prosecution in your country or you came here and committed crimes, we don't want you," said City Council President Joe Cavo. "I fully support these enforcement efforts."