Frank Panzarella at Wednesday’s rally: “There’s absolutely no justification for the way those people were killed.” Activist Katherine Hinds was arrested last year for protesting on a highway overpass; she attended Wednesday’s rally wearing a whistle, like many members of rapid response teams across the country. Roughly 30 people rallied outside the federal courthouse downtown on Wednesday evening to decry the recent shooting deaths of two men across the country by federal immigration officers — and to speak out about growing “ICE violence” closer to home. The rally was organized by the local immigrant-worker rights group Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA). It took place in the wake of the killings of a 52-year-old Mexican man named Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas on July 7 and a 26-year-old Colombian man named Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine on July 13 by immigration enforcement officers.  “Unidentified agents, unmarked cars, unaccountable force,” local attorney Alex Taubes said at Wednesday’s rally. “That is not law enforcement. That is terrorism on our streets.”  “The trust is gone” between the city and the federal government, State Rep. Pat Dillon said. Those who gathered outside 141 Church St. on Wednesday raised concerns not just about ICE violence in Texas and Maine, but also right here in Connecticut. One ULA member — who declined to share his name — recounted being “violently apprehended” by ICE agents in June. ULA leader John Lugo translated from Spanish to English for the ULA member. Lugo said that, during the man’s arrest, ICE agents broke his wrist. The man was then detained for several days without receiving medical attention, according to a press release sent out by ULA in advance of Wednesday’s rally. “He was eventually released, but his experience illustrates the human cost of immigration enforcement and the consequences of denying people timely medical care while in custody,” Lugo wrote. “I’m incapacitated, I cannot work. I am afraid all the time,” the ULA member said in Spanish during Wednesday’s rally. Update: According to an ICE spokesperson, “Any report of a detainee not receiving medical attention is patently false. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE. ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.” The spokesperson wrote in an email to the Independent: “It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. This is the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives.” During his time addressing the crowd Wednesday, Taubes spoke about one of his clients, a former Yale student from Afghanistan who has newly sued ICE after undercover agents caused him injury, tasing him seven times in a Hartford courtroom. His client was eventually granted asylum, Taubes said, and is “free today and alive” — what happened to his client is happening “all across our country,” he said. The rally also served as an opportunity for all three Democrats running to represent the west-side 92nd General Assembly District — incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon and challengers Eli Sabin and Justin Farmer — to speak out against ICE enforcement. Taubes recognized Dillon for supporting state legislation that passed this May which requires ICE officers to make themselves identifiable to the public by carrying their ID and going unmasked, Taubes said. This act was cited in his client’s lawsuit. In remarks during the rally, Dillon admonished federal courts, which she said “have eroded the rights” that the Constitution guarantees, especially the 4th Amendment, which she said ICE officers have disregarded.  Sabin advocated for a constitutional rights defense fund “to protect our people and make sure that people have lawyers and support to fight for their rights.”  He added, “I want to thank you all for being here today and for being here tomorrow and next week and on until we can fight back and get this government out of power and abolish ICE and protect our neighbors and restore the values of decency and humanity to this country.” “We’re one of the wealthiest states in the country and this is a moment where all hands are on deck,” Sabin said. “Our state needs to step up and say, ‘we are on the side of our residents.’”  “So many of our feckless leaders scapegoat Black and brown bodies,” Farmer said to the crowd. “Policy does not matter if we don’t change the culture,” he added. Like other speakers, he called for ICE to leave Connecticut. “You may feel safe now with President Trump above you,” Taubes said about ICE agents. “But don’t forget when another administration comes into power, when the winds have changed, it may not be so safe to break the law.”  Wednesday’s rally was one of the first local protests against ICE since New Haven activists came downtown in droves to speak out against the Trump Administration’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota. Protests in New Haven peaked in January, the month that ICE protesters and U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. “One of the reasons we are out here today is because we need more people,” said ULA’s John Lugo. According to Lugo, ICE agents — who in New Haven arrested a man inside a courthouse, attempted to apprehend a man holding a baby, and “abducted” two people affiliated with Integrated Refugee Immigrant Services (IRIS) this year — are continuing to come into the city.  An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about how many ICE agents are currently in New Haven. This article has been updated to include comment from an spokesperson for ICE. State Rep. Pat Dillon (right): “The trust is gone” between the city and the federal government. State rep candidate Eli Sabin said he was “heartbroken” by the news of another ICE killing in Maine; “Our state government needs to step up and act as a shield, protecting our communities and our neighbors from Donald Trump and from ICE. We cannot let people go at this alone.” State rep candidate Justin Farmer (center): “Every single person is important, I don’t care if they have a criminal record or not.” Civil rights lawyer Alex Taubes: ICE’s immigration enforcement operations across the country are acts of “terrorism.” A ULA sign referenced the country’s recent 250th anniversary, comparing “lynchings” from 1915 to 2026. The post ULA Protests ICE Killings appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less