Sam Gurwitt Photo
No justice? No peace! No racist police!
A crowd gathered Thursday afternoon outside of the Hamden Police Department in the icy chill to offer that chant and seek to take the “ICE” out of police.
After WTNH’s Mario Boone uncovered body cam footage last month that showed two Hamden police officers threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement and shoot two Latino men during a traffic stop, the protesters gathered in front of the Hamden police department to support legislation that would prevent Connecticut police from cooperating with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
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Unidad Latina en Acción’s John Lugo (pictured) opened the rally by describing what happened last February when Officer Andrew Lipford and Sgt. Michael Sigmon arrested a man after chasing him into his driveway.
He reminded the crowd of another incident in 2012 when the Hamden police arrested Josemaria Islas and turned him over to ICE. Islas was almost deported, but was eventually granted a stay of removal. Shortly after the incident, the state legislature passed the Trust Act, which prevents law enforcement from cooperating with ICE in certain situations.
“The role of the police department is to have a safe community,” said Lugo. “We don’t want to see people seeing crimes or being the witness of the crime and not calling the police department because they are afraid that they are going to call immigration on them. We know that that’s a reality right now in the United States.”
He and ULA are advocating for state Senate Bill 992, which would expand the Trust Act. Under the current legislation, said Lugo, loopholes allow law enforcement to turn people they arrest over to ICE. SB 992 would prevent the police handing a suspect over to immigration detainers unless the ICE “detainer” request has a warrant signed by a judge.
After Lugo, Hamden religious leaders took the microphone to speak.
“Today is the first day of the month of Adar,” Rabbi Brian Immerman of Congregation Mishkan Israel (pictured above) told the crowd.
Adar is the month on the Jewish calendar when the holiday of Purim occurs. This is supposed to be the most joyous month on the calendar. “That joy of course is tempered when there is injustice in our society,” Immerman said.
He told the story of Purim, in which amid a decree to kill all Jews, a Jew, Mordechai, stands up and reveals a plot to kill the king — and sets in motion events that save the day.
“We can’t have people hiding in our society afraid to speak up when there is injustice in our society,” said Immerman. “When the police harass people who are undocumented or who are just Latino, they make them afraid to speak up. They make them afraid to speak up in cases of domestic violence, in cases of other theft and crime that are happening in our society and it makes everyone less safe.”
Some speakers echoed the calls of Hamden Legislative Council members for a civilian review board in Hamden.
“This is nothing but clear racial profiling,” said Chris Garaffa (pictured above). Hamden, he said, should follow New Haven’s lead in creating a board in which citizens could have oversight over the police. It took 20 years of struggle to create one in New Haven, he said, and Hamden should be having those conversations as well. He also voiced his support for SB 992.
Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson of Spring Glen Church told the crowd that “this is called the Trust Act for a reason.” He recounted that Hamden’s former police Chief Thomas Wydra once told him that what keeps him up at night is that people in his community do not trust the police.
“We are here to restore some of that trust,” he said.
After the rally, he told the Independent that he “understand[s] that in these circumstances adrenaline runs high.” But when we put badges on people, he said, they are supposed to be trained to remain cool when adrenaline kicks in. He added that it’s important to note that racism exists far beyond just police forces, and that everyone needs to do the work to combat it within themselves.
As the last rays of the sun began to disappear below the horizon, the crowd of about 15 quickly scattered to get out of the cold. Some of them will appear Friday at 9 am. at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford for a public hearing on SB 992.
Our immigration system is a mess and people like Lugo do nothing to help fix it. Why do you think over 76,000 people flooded the border last month? Because they know once they get here, they can disappear into the countryside. Our legal system and legal processes are being flaunted. Congress needs to do their job and fix the system. In the meantime, handcuffing the police is not the answer. The Sergeant in this incident was not being racist. He suspected the passenger understood English and was bluffing him. Things on the street are not always pretty.