Video of ICE Detainment in Danbury Goes Viral

DANBURY, CT — A video of a man being taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers Monday in Danbury has spread quickly throughout social media.

Danbury Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour said in a statement that the police department was not involved in the arrest, but that someone had called police and officers responded to the scene. Ridenhour further indicated that the department did not know what charges they had against the man.

"Danbury Police had no involvement in this incident," according to Ridenhour's statement."Someone did call us (we believe it was a civilian) and officers responded to the scene after the man had been taken into custody by ICE."

"We do not know what charges they have against him," Ridenhour continued.

The city's large immigrant community has voiced concerns over the Department of Homeland Security's plans to step up deportation and immigration law enforcement, but officials say the announcement changes nothing with regards to immigration enforcement.

Det. Lt. Christian Carroccio of the Danbury Police Department told Patch that the city will comply with the state's TRUST Act. Signed into law in 2013, the act limits coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies.

However, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton told the Connecticut Post that things could change if formal action is taken by the federal government, and that the city would provide assistance to federal agencies such as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they ask.

In an unrelated case, ICE officials had allegedly posed as local police in an incident in Hartford last week, attempting to get an undocumented person to meet them at Hartford's Public Safety Complex to be detained.

Angelica Idrovo, a community organizer for CT Students for a Dream, told the News Times that Danbury's immigrant community has heightened fear and anxiety after the detainment.

“Parents are afraid to send their kids to school. Kids are afraid to come home and find their parents gone,” said Idrovo in a statement to the publication.

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