New London Police Help ICE With Capture

NEW LONDON, CT—Police helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents chase down and capture a Brazilian national who lives in Bridgeport Wednesday outside the New London courthouse after the man ran away from agents who were trying to arrest him. ICE agents were at the Broad Street courthouse to arrest 33-year-old Fabricio Daelmeida-Oliveira who was in court on an unrelated domestic case.

Agents began chasing him when local police joined them. They caught Daelmeida-Oliveira and, as was reported, he was "likely taken" to the ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations in Hartford, his attorney Michael R. Hasse told The Day.

Following a request to the New London Police Department for more information about the assist and if police had advance notice of the ICE action or was aware of a ICE warrant for Daelmeida-Oliveira's arrest, Police Chief Peter Reichard released a statement saying the department's involvement was "spontaneous" and they had not been contacted in advance by ICE.

Reichard described what happened.

After a courthouse "orientation" attended by two newly-sworn police officers, police saw a man running away from the court building "with a number of tactically-dressed individuals pursuing him." Reichard said his officers called in that "unknown law enforcement officers" were chasing the man. He said other police units "quickly responded" to help. He said Daelmeida-Oliveira ran behind a business across the street, and ran though yards in the Post Hill neighborhood with ICE agents and police chasing him. It was New London police officers who caught Daelmeida-Oliveira.

Reichard said his department "has, and always will assist other law enforcement
agencies" who ask for help including local, state and federal officials and, will "upon request" help detain a person "for an immigration violation only if an active criminal arrest warrant exists." He said the NLPD "does not seek-out individuals with immigration detainers or deportation orders and will only detain individuals for ICE if a valid warrant exists."

On the Connecticut Judiciary, which generally has docket information on defendants open and available to the public to peruse has the documents on Daelmeida-Oliveira unavailable. The only notation on the case out of Bridgeport is that a "rearrested (was) ordered."

His first name is spelled Fabrycio on the state website.

A call to ICE for information on the arrest had a reporter transferred to a voicemail-box that was full.

The police chief said the NLPD was not contacted in advance and is not "involved with any type of planned or orchestrated immigration 'raid' or 'roundup.'"

"Yesterday’s events were purely spontaneous insofar as NLPD officers in the area observed what they believed was another law enforcement agency engaged in a foot pursuit and jumped into action to help fellow law enforcement officers," Reichard said.

Former New London mayor Daryl Justin Finizio told Patch ICE has no business in Connecticut courts.

“This is an extremely disturbing incident. ICE agents should not be operating in the Connecticut courts. It disrupts the safe operation of our court system," he said.

"What is even more concerning is the apparent voluntary involvement of the New London Police. This possibly conflicts with established City policies. I remain fully committed to working with my fellow members of the bar, and active members of the community, to protect New London residents from the judicial overreach of ICE agents. This agency is committing gross international human rights violations and not only should not be operating in our courthouses but should in fact be abolished entirely.”

Reichard said the police department, "hears and acknowledges the concerns and fears of our Hispanic and immigrant communities and we deeply value their strong contributions to our City. They are truly part of the fabric of our community and we want everyone to feel safe in our city."

And noted that officers "protect and defend ALL members of our community regardless of race, ethnicity or immigration status."

He said officers "do not enforce federal immigration law."

"Rather, my officers reunite missing children with their families, they run into burning buildings to save people, they have lunch and go fishing with school children and donate hundreds of pounds of food at Thanksgiving time in addition to their day-to-day heroic acts that often go unseen. I’m beyond proud to lead the men and women of this department and proud to serve such a rich and diverse community like New London. We fondly reflect on the progress that has been made and strive to continue our efforts to make New London a safe, prosperous and thriving community."