Ximena Solorzano, Staff Photographer

Rumors of agents from the Department of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operating in New Haven have swirled online and made their way through conversational grapevines since Inauguration Day in January. But on Friday, Feb. 21 the warning shared through social media was different.

Community organizer Vanesa Suarez first reported that she received “confirmation from city officials that ICE will be in New Haven” in a since-deleted Instagram post. Then, Unidad Latina en Acción, a prominent Latino advocacy group, posted a warning message on its public Facebook page.

John Jairo Lugo, ULA’s community organizing director, emphasized that ULA would not have relayed Suarez’s message without first verifying it. 

“We are a group that has been working on the topic of immigration for so many years, and we want our information to be correct,” Lugo said in Spanish. “So, what we wrote was that we knew from formal, trustworthy sources that ‘la migra’” — a Spanish catch-all for federal immigration authorities — “will be present in New Haven.”

Lugo and Suarez declined to share which city official warned them about ICE activity last Friday. No city official — including Mayor Justin Elicker — has affirmed these reports to the News. Lenny Speiller, the mayor’s communications director, said on Friday that he believes the rumors spread from a “passing comment” but declined to answer further questions, advising that the city is not allowed to share information on ongoing federal law enforcement actions.

Suarez’s post was shared nearly 500 times within four hours of being uploaded. Four city immigration activists and attorneys told the News they learned about ICE’s presence through communication channels with fellow advocates.

Sister Mary Ellen Burns LAW ’89, executive director of Apostle Immigrant Services, said that she received an email from another individual in immigrant services alerting her and others that ICE was believed to be operating in New Haven. Burns clarified that she did not hear of the news from any official channel and declined to specify her source’s identity.

After learning about the alleged ICE activity, Lugo assembled six volunteers from ULA’s 100-person emergency response team to patrol the streets of Fair Haven and the Hill. The team stood on the corner of Grand Avenue and Ferry Street displaying a banner that cautioned New Haveners against opening their doors to federal immigration authorities, and distributing “know your rights” cards.

Lugo said the team did not spot any ICE agents throughout the day.

Elicker told the News that federal law enforcement agencies have historically notified the New Haven Police Department when they intend to do an action in the city. 

“They don’t want the police department to think that it’s some non-law enforcement activity, which could potentially get a response from the police department because they don’t know that this is federal law enforcement,” Elicker said. “That could be dangerous to everyone.”

ICE operations targeted New Haven’s immigrant communities during Trump’s first term. In 2019, ICE agents detained a student at Wilbur Cross High School in East Rock. Two years earlier, an undocumented immigrant made headlines when he took sanctuary in a local church to avoid being detained.

New Haven Police Department communications officer Christian Bruckhart said that ICE does “not necessarily” notify the NHPD when it comes to New Haven to serve a warrant, if they do not ask for support from the municipal department.

“If ICE makes an arrest that doesn’t necessarily involve us, or they go to court because someone’s got a court date and they’re arrested at court, the New Haven Police is not necessarily involved in something like that,” Bruckhart said.

Bruckhart added that if the NHPD were to be formally notified that ICE intends to serve a warrant, they would not “broadcast” the agency’s intent so that the individual could evade law enforcement. Elicker confirmed that the NHPD would not be allowed to notify the community ahead of a planned ICE raid.

Lugo described ICE’s alleged presence on Friday as the first in the city since Trump’s re-inauguration on Jan. 20. Tabitha Sookdeo ENV ’26, executive director of Connecticut Students for a Dream, and Lugo said they do not yet know if the ICE agents detained anyone on Friday.

On Jan. 30, ICE agents arrested a Jamaican man and New Haven resident who was wanted for shooting with intent in his home country. The man was previously arrested by NHPD officers in December 2023 for threatening in the first degree with hazard to terrorize. At the time of his arrest by ICE, the man was no longer in NHPD custody.

Sookdeo and Lugo stressed the importance of “know your rights” workshops, ULA’s emergency hotline and other resources to prepare New Haven’s immigrant community for potential future ICE activity in the city. However, Lugo emphasized the mental toll that such community organizing has taken on him and other advocates.

“I don’t run anymore,” Lugo said. “During Trump’s first term, we were in the streets the whole day and we had 20 or 30 people in the train station and 20 or 30 people in Fair Haven. But you get burnt out, you get worn out.”

New Haven adopted a “welcoming city” order — which prohibits city employees, including police, from asking residents about their immigration status — in 2020.