Elicker Urges Tweed To Discontinue ‘Preferential Parking’ For ICE

By Thomas Breen, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — Mayor Justin Elicker has formally asked Tweed New Haven Airport to stop providing "preferential parking" for federal immigration agents — as part of a broader request that the airport "not exceed any federal requirements by extending additional assistance to ICE."

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Those requests are detailed in a four-page letter that Elicker sent on Wednesday to Robert Reed, the chair of the board of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority. That's the quasi-public agency that leases the city-owned land on which the Morris Cove regional airport sits.

The airport authority sets the policies by which the airport is run. It also contracts with Avports, a private airport-management company, which runs the day-to-day operations at Tweed.

Elicker's letter came in the wake of at least two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of passengers at Tweed in the past two weeks. Avports has claimed that federal law requires them to provide ICE agents with authorized access to the airport. Elicker previously said that the city would review relevant federal law to see if that is true.

The letter was also sent on the same day as the latest monthly meeting of the airport authority's board, which took place between 4 and 5 p.m. Wednesday at the airport's Burr Street administrative building and online via Zoom. During that meeting, Reed, the board's chair, said he had not yet received Elicker's letter.

Click here to read Elicker's letter in full.

"I write regarding recent incidents where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained individuals traveling through Tweed-New Haven Airport. These detentions by ICE are deeply concerning, particularly because, based on public reports, these individuals appear to have no criminal history," Elicker wrote to Reed.

"It is the responsibility of the City of New Haven and Tweed-New Haven Airport (the 'Airport') to ensure, within the law, that community members enjoy safe transit through Airport spaces. While it is fully agreed and acknowledged that the Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority (the "Authority") and the Airport Operator (Avports) must follow federal law, it is also important that the Authority and Avports not exceed any federal requirements by extending additional assistance to ICE."

The letter also includes a copy of a state law signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in May, set to take effect on Oct. 1, that prohibits "peace officers" from arresting anyone "in a protected area, state facility or municipal facility" on a civil offense, unless if they are acting in their official capacity and have a judicial warrant. Elicker identified Tweed as a "municipal facility," and therefore falling under the purview of this new law.

The letter goes on to list eight specific requests of the authority in light of these recent ICE arrests.

To quote directly from the letter, those requests include:

• Review all recent Airport interactions with ICE to ensure that the Airport only provides access that it is required to by law. Otherwise, do not provide any additional supports such as, but not limited to, designated or curb parking, access to Air Operations Area (AEO) or private access areas such as catering, offices for management/Authority and retail leaseholds.
• We understand that Avports is providing ICE with parking accommodations. We also understand this is not required under federal law. We are requesting that the Authority require Avports to discontinue providing any preferential parking to ICE that is not otherwise provided to the general public.
• Update the Airport Demonstration Policy to facilitate demonstrations of noncommercial speech and observation on airport property in consideration of the Public Act by providing accommodation within the arrivals and departures areas and immediately exterior to these locations on the sidewalk and clearly designate these areas as free speech zones. We understand that limitations exist on Airport property and that demonstrators and observers should not obstruct airport operations. Yet, at the same time, the Airport has a responsibility to facilitate demonstrators and observers having access to airport property to ensure transparency. New Haven Police support should only be requested by Avports in the event that there is a risk to public safety.
• Train and instruct Avports operations staff to accommodate such non-commercial speech on Airport premises based on an updated Demonstration Policy as well as which speech would be protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, provided that it does not result in interference with the constitutional rights of others and does not interfere with the operations and functioning of the Airport, in a manner consistent with Operating Rules and Regulations and involving the New Haven Police Department in a manner consistent with the Amended SP.
• Provide immediate notification to the City of New Haven when the Authority or Avports becomes aware of an attempted enforcement action or detention by ICE has occurred.
• If ICE detains an individual on Airport property and the Authority or Avports become aware that such a detention was conducted without a judicial warrant, which is a violation of the Trust Act, immediately notify the City of New Haven and fully cooperate with any investigation that the City of New Haven may implement.
• Provide a copy of the Public Act and related Airport policy to all peace officers, as defined in the Public Act, who make an application for Tweed-New Haven Airport-approved identification media (badges) or other security privileges.
• Post signage in both the Arrivals and Departures section as well as on the Airport's website notifying community members of their rights based on the Public Act.

During Wednesday's board meeting, Reed read a prepared statement in which he said that the authority is "working with all of our partners" to find a solution that "accommodates all parties."

"We will remain in compliance with our federal and state law," he said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, three members of the public — including Anne Watkins of the New Haven Immigrants Coalition — criticized ICE's recent arrests at the airport. They also called on Tweed to stand up to ICE, to support the community, and to respect the rights of "legal observers" there to ensure that law enforcement is not violating anyone's constitutional rights.

Watkins also expressed concern that at least one airport authority board member appeared not to know that ICE has access to the airport and had been making arrests in recent weeks.

Reed declined to go into specifics about the ICE arrests or authorized access at the airport on Wednesday. Instead, he said that "mutual aid agencies" like the DEA, FBI, ATF, state police, and fire marshal "all have specific personnel that are badged here at Tweed."

"It's not like" just anyone from any such agency "can come on [airport] property and execute objectives." It's only "specific individuals that are badged here. That's with all agencies."

Flash Flooding, Then A Runway-Lighting Failure

While the airport authority's board meeting closed out with a discussion of ICE, the first half focused on flooding and a related power outage that affected Tweed earlier this week.

In his opening remarks to the board, Reed said that Tweed experienced flash flooding on Sunday, leading it to close its departure terminal for the day. "The airport did receive one inbound flight. They also did a turnaround on another flight during that time," he said.

Jeremy Nielson, the chief operations officer at Avports, said that Tweed receive "close to five inches of rain in two hours" on Sunday morning. When the airport's management team met on Saturday night to plan for the following days stormy weather, they were expecting just an inch of rain. By Sunday morning, the forecast had shifted up to two inches. A lot more wound up coming down.

"We were fortunate we had the flood barriers in place prior to water reaching the terminal," Nielson said.

He said that there was "approximately 12 inches [of water] outside the building, up the side of the windows of the entrance," as well as two inches of water inside.

"Once the floods receded, we were able to receive inbound aircraft while the departures terminal was still under water."

He noted that the airport property has "a lot of capacity in the creek. This flooding occurred at high tide, with the tide gates down." He said "the water couldn't make it into the creek fast enough."

Then, on Monday evening, "the vast majority of the runway lighting on the west side of the field went out." Nielson said that the airport does "a minimum of two lighting inspections every day" — one at dawn and one at dusk. The runway lighting was working on Sunday night and Monday morning after the floods.

However, during the Monday evening check, airport staff discovered that some of the runway lighting was out. "We do feel that the excessive amounts of rain was the cause of the loss of one of the electrical circuits on the airfield," he said.

Reed said that Monday's lighting-system failure "forced the runway to close Monday night, causing multiple flight diversions and disruptions." He said the airport's team worked overnight to repair the lighting, which was fully operational as of Tuesday morning. Reed said a total of six to seven flights were "directly impacted" by the lighting problem.

The authority's board of directors "sincerely apologizes for these unforeseen and unexpected events," Reed said. "Mother nature rears her head sometimes in negative situations."

He and other board members said that a reconfigured runway and a new terminal, long in the works, should reduce the likelihood of these types of flooding-related problems from happening in the future.

"New technology is out there that would most likely prevent a failure of the system in the future," he said.

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.