STATEMENT: CT's Immigrant Organizations Respond to Second Murder of US Citizen in Minneapolis by ICE.
Carolina Bortolleto
For Immediate Release
Saturday, January 24th, 2025
Contact: bortollet...@gmal.com| 203-942-3053 | Carolina Bortolleto
Connecticut's Immigrant Organizations Respond to Second Murder of US Citizen in Minneapolis by ICE.
As organizations who have seen first hand ICE's violence and brutality on our streets, we know all too well that Connecticut is not immune to ICE's barbarity.
Connecticut - Today, following the federal government’s deployment of 3,000 immigration agents to Minneapolis in recent weeks and escalating efforts to target the city’s immigrant communities, an immigration agent brutally shot and killed a Minneapolis man in the street. This comes after 50,0000 Minnesotans and 700 businesses marched and joined a statewide general strike to demand the end to the military occupation of their communities.
Immigrant rights organizations around the state came together to issue the following statement and commitment. The below has been signed by: CT Students for a Dream, Danbury Unites for Immigrants, Colectivo de Defensa/Hartford Deportation Defense, Make the Road CT, New Haven Immigrants Coalition, Stamford Norwalk United For Immigrants, Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA)
“As we process the news that ICE has executed a second Minneapolis community member in broad daylight, we are heartbroken. Barely one month into the new year, ICE has shot 3 community members in Minnesota and nationwide 6 of our immigrant neighbors have died in custody at the hands of ICE. We stand with Minnesotans as they continue to face the terror of state violence and illegal actions by federal agents. The facts have never been more clear - violent, untrained, masked agents patrolling our neighborhoods, kidnapping, hurting, and killing our neighbors makes no one safer. ICE agents do not belong in our communities, in our cities, or in our states. As organizations on the ground, we have seen first hand ICE’s increasingly more violent tactics and the escalating number of detentions in CT and across the Northeast. Abolish ICE now.”
The brutality we are witnessing is intentional - to push us into fear and silence. But the people are refusing to stay silent. Across the country and here in Connecticut, neighbors are coming together to protect neighbors. Because community and organization is what will protect us.
We condemn the unnecessary and unlawful violence perpetrated by federal officials, and we call on mayors and governors to join us in condemning state-sanctioned violence. Our CT elected officials must ensure that Connecticut is not complicit in the federal government's abusive immigration enforcement tactics or its creeping authoritarianism. We call on our state legislators to protect our privacy by regulating private companies’ ability to capture our personal information and ensure the national guard is not used for immigration enforcement. And we call on our US Senators to vote no on any additional funding for ICE! “
