The Norwich Bulletin reports that the East Lyme police “stopped a man for a traffic violation Sunday and learned he was wanted on a deportation warrant.”
Maybe the man was speeding or veering dangerously. Maybe he made a turn without putting on his directional. Maybe he was suspiciously brown skinned.
The Bulletin article offers no information about any of this, but it underscores how important the recent Hartford immigrant-friendly ordinance is. Under the Hartford ordinance, the police are not permitted to make inquiries about residents’ immigration status, nor are they permitted to disclose information about immigration status to ICE, nor are they permitted to detain a person due to an outstanding non-criminal immigration warrant.
A traffic stop by a Hartford police officer in a situation similar to that described in the Bulletin should result in a ticket, nothing more. Among other things, the ordinance should be a disincentive for Lone Ranger cops who think it’s their job to enforce federal immigration law in their community.
That’s why we need other communities in Connecticut to take up this issue, whether it’s in the form of executive orders or town ordinances. Perhaps we’re not strong enough – today – to stop ICE from conducting its gestapo-style raids and rounding up 200, 300, 600 workers at a time. But we are strong enough to make our local city governments stop doing ICE’s job for it.
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