Thomas Breen file photos
NHPD Chief Jacobson and YPD Chief Campbell.
As fears of ICE raids persist across New Haven, the city’s two top law enforcement chiefs — Yale Police Department’s Anthony Campbell and New Haven Police Department’s Karl Jacobson — recommitted on Monday to limiting local cops’ cooperation with federal immigration agents.
The exchange took place during a special meeting of the city’s Civilian Review Board (CRB), held at City Hall and via Zoom. The CRB provides independent oversight of investigations into alleged misconduct by New Haven police officers.
At Monday’s meeting, which featured 15 members, board members pressed both chiefs on their departments’ approach to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity and the ongoing anxiety felt by undocumented residents and Yale’s large international student population.
Those fears have been fueled by a series of recent detentions involving individuals with ties to the New Haven area — including a Hill mom arrested outside her home while on her way to court, a Fair Haven mom arrested outside the courthouse before a hearing, an Afghan interpreter seized while applying for a green card, and an 18-year-old Wilbur Cross High School student taken into custody as part of a workplace raid of a car wash.
The chiefs’ responses underscored a broader question raised by CRB members: how should local law enforcement navigate federal immigration enforcement in a city where many residents — including international Yale students — may be vulnerable?
Campbell struck a tone of proactive reassurance, describing YPD’s role as one of de-escalation and transparency. Jacobson emphasized legal boundaries and departmental neutrality, saying NHPD does not interfere with — or participate in — federal operations unless a criminal warrant is involved.
Campbell, responding to concerns about student anxiety, recounted an incident in which plainclothes Yale detectives arrested an individual for theft, prompting panic from students and faculty who believed ICE agents were on campus.
“The anxiety is so high that the administration has been sending out messages across campus,” Campbell said. “We’ve had to put things on our public safety website to notify our community about our policies and procedures — that we do not ask anyone about their immigration status, and we are not working with ICE.”
He explained that Yale Police operate under Connecticut’s TRUST Act, which prohibits cooperation with ICE on administrative warrants. If ICE agents are spotted on or near campus, Campbell said, Yale officers are instructed to respond — not to assist enforcement, but to de-escalate tensions and document the incident.
“I do acknowledge that ICE is a law enforcement agency,” he said. “Now, if they had a warrant for a criminal suspect who was dangerous to our community, that’s normal policing. But these administrative warrants that they’ve been serving people — we’re not going to be enforcing those.”
Jacobson described NHPD’s stance as “neutral,” emphasizing that the department does not ask about immigration status or act on administrative warrants. He noted that ICE rarely contacts NHPD for assistance and said claims that NHPD declines warrants are misleading — because the department is not typically asked to take part in federal actions.
If ICE does alert NHPD to a multi-person operation, Jacobson said, the department might be informed in advance, though such roundups haven’t happened in recent years. More often, ICE agents detain individuals at courthouses after arraignments — an approach Jacobson described as safer and less disruptive than pursuing people in the community.
While reiterating that NHPD would intervene if any law enforcement agency, including ICE, used excessive force, Jacobson stressed that otherwise, the department does not get involved.
“We take a neutral stance,” he said. “We protect the people, and we make sure what’s being done is legal.”