Sen. Harding Statement on New CT Courthouse-ICE Policy

For Immediate Release 

Sen. Stephen Harding issued the following statement regarding the Connecticut Judicial Branch’s Policy Regarding Law Enforcement Activity in Courthouses banning ICE agents from wearing masks on courthouse property and banning warrantless arrests in courthouse spaces.

“The Judicial Branch made this decision in consultation with ICE in an attempt to ensure the safety and security of courthouses and those that visit them. That’s their right to do, but this action highlights multiple glaring issues here in Connecticut.

1. Many Connecticut Democrats believe there should be no immigration law enforcement in our state. They want to keep criminal illegal aliens on our streets, on our dime.
2. Many Connecticut Democrats repeatedly insist Connecticut is not a ‘sanctuary state’ even as ICE recently announced that Connecticut is a ‘sanctuary no more’. We are the very definition of a sanctuary state, with Democrats protecting criminal aliens at the expense of Connecticut citizens.
3. People overwhelmingly support removing criminal illegal aliens from our streets, but to Connecticut Democrats, that’s an apparently a bad thing.  They had little if anything to say, for example, about ICE’s highly successful ‘Operation Broken Trust’ or the twice-deported Guatemalan man who was recently arrested for aggravated sex assault of a jogger in a New Haven dog park.
4. Democrats have prohibited local and state law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities for violent crimes.
5. Democrats now want to prohibit state Department of Children and Families workers from talking to ICE with regard to the sex trafficking of children.
6. Democrats, like Gov. Ned Lamont, openly state that all illegal immigrants are ‘welcome’ in Connecticut.

Unbelievable and out of touch, but true. That’s one-party Democrat rule on full display here in deep-blue Connecticut.

Republicans cherish the American Dream, and we understand the role immigrants have played in contributing to the successes of the United States.

Republicans continue to support legal immigration, law enforcement and victims of violent crime. Republicans continue to fight to uphold our immigration laws while demanding safer streets and respect for the taxpayers’ money.”