U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has officially launched a formal investigation into the enforcement tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Connecticut and around the nation.
Blumenthal, a Democrat who is a ranking member on the Congressional Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter Tuesday to Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director.
The letter requests a variety of documentation and information on the recruiting, retention incentives and compensation “that may aggravate the problems of over-arrests, unjustified detention, excessive use of force and other potentially abusive tactics,” Blumenthal said outside the federal courthouse in Hartford.
“Flash bang grenades, physical violence, tasers have been involved in some of the ICE arrests or simply the detention without formal arrest,” Blumenthal said.
The concerns about ICE go beyond state lines, with data showing 60% of those who were arrested by ICE through late June were not convicted criminals, as Stateline reported.
“The increasing numbers of those incidents, detention of U.S. citizens, excessive use of force, other abusive tactics that are more characteristic of a police state and a totalitarian regime than of a democracy,” Blumenthal said.
“We need every politician, from local to national levels, to stand with immigrants,” said Tabitha Sookdeo with CT Students for a Dream. “This is a moment that demands moral courage, because every day that passes, more families are torn apart and in Connecticut, we are feeling this deeply.”
The investigation was forthcoming: Blumenthal spoke of it last week at a rally in Danbury, where community members gathered after two people were recently detained. In the last several weeks, people have also been detained at a Stamford courthouse and on Norwalk police department property.
‘A reckoning and accountability’
Blumenthal also alluded to the investigation last week when Connecticut lawmakers denounced death threats targeting Rep. Corey Paris (D-Stamford). The harassment towards Paris and his family happened after ICE re-shared a post on the social media platform X from the far-right account @LibsofTikTok that spread misinformation about Paris alerting people that ICE agents were present in his district.
On Tuesday, Paris joined Blumenthal in Hartford and spoke about protecting the right to due process, along with freedom of speech.
“The attacks against elected officials, against immigrant families, against those who speak out simply for having a difference of opinion under this federal government and this administration, are a coordinated effort that will ramp up more and more over the next few years,” Paris said.
Democratic and Republican leaders in Connecticut’s House and Senate have denounced the threats against Paris and his family.
In addition, House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford), House Majority Leader Jason Rojas (D-East Hartford) and House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora (R-North Branford) issued a joint statement. The group said that opposing viewpoints are a part of politics, but threats against Paris are unacceptable.
“We have seen in recent months a ratcheting up of rhetoric from both sides of the political aisle and the events of the past week have illustrated just how toxic the atmosphere has become,” the bipartisan group said.
Blumenthal’s letter to ICE requests information about policies or procedures surrounding how the agency runs its social media accounts and the communications surrounding the decision to re-share the Libs of TikTok post.
“There needs to be a reckoning and accountability for ICE,” Blumenthal said. “ICE elevated the kind of rhetoric that so threatened Corey Paris and his family, instead of seeking to defuse it or even disparage it, and that is a betrayal of trust and responsibility, as is any of the kind of physically abusive tactics that have been reported.”
Blumenthal requested a response from ICE to the inquiry by Sept. 9.
