“It’s domestic terrorism”: Susan Bysiewicz Thursday in the WNHH-FM studio. Paul Bass Photo Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz returned from Connecticut Ground Zero of the Trump Administration’s renewed deportation campaign with a verdict: The feds are defying decency and the law to intimidate enti re communities. She delivered that verdict during an interview Thursday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” A day earlier she had accompanied Gov. Ned Lamont and other elected officials to Danbury at the cap of a three-day immigration sweep by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They had met with community members reeling from ICE grabs of at least 50 suspected undocumented immigrants in town, often in upsetting public encounters as kids returned to school for the fall. “It appeared that ICE had staged this with the backdrop of kids going back to school. So one person was taken right in front of an elementary school,” Bysiewicz said. “There were parents at a bus stop. Once the kids were on the bus, parents were taken at the bus stop. And can you imagine how traumatizing that could be for a kid to look out the window?” She noted that the agents wore masks and failed to display badges or ID, in defiance of law. The courts are currently considering a Trump administration challenge to Connecticut’s law.  “There’s so much of this that is lawless,” Bysiewicz said. “It’s domestic terrorism. They’re deliberately trying to intimidate people, cause fear, and they’re hurting lots of people. They’re hurting a lot of business owners. “For example, the governor and I talked to the owner of a coffee shop. The coffee shop is right across the green where day laborers go to get work every day. Nobody’s going there now. Nobody’s been in their restaurant.” Unlike in past waves of local ICE arrests, the agency hasn’t released information about the latest people they’ve detained or why. “For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations,” the agency stated in an email to the Independent, for instance, about reported arrests in New Haven. “Under President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.” Nationally, the bulk of immigrants swept up in ICE raids increasingly have not committed offenses other than illegal entry into the country, contrary to Trump administration claims of rounding up “the worst of the worst.”  Bysiewicz said the Lamont administration is appealing to ICE to release information about the specific people arrested here and why. In previous waves, she noted, officials have been able to win release of people who had been law-abiding, including students from Cheshire and Meriden. “We’re going to do our best to try” to win people’s release in the latest round, she said. Ultimately, she said, Congress needs to “fix our broken” immigration system. Click on the below video to watch the full interview with Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, most of which concerned her current campaign for a third term in office, including her efforts to promote opportunities for girls and young women and the administration’s efforts to promote affordable housing. Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of “Dateline New Haven.” The post Bysiewicz Decries “Lawless” ICE “Fear Campaign” appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less