Advocates urge CT lawmakers to approve Trust Act expansion
Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror
People held up signs in support of immigrant rights at a press conference about the Trust Act on May 15, 2025.
Immigrant rights advocates and faith leaders packed a room at the state Capitol Thursday to pressure lawmakers to pass a bill that would place further limits on how law enforcement and businesses in the state interface with federal immigration authorities.
H.B 7212 would add provisions to a current state law known as the Trust Act, which regulates how local and state police cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The Trust Act generally prohibits Connecticut law enforcement from arresting someone solely on the basis of a detainer — a request from ICE that police hold a person for up to 48 hours so federal agents can pick them up — with some exceptions.
The bill would prohibit public agencies in Connecticut from sharing information with ICE such as a person’s home address, workplace, school or “the date, time or location of a person’s hearings, proceedings or appointments with the public agency.” It also prohibits arrest or detention at courthouses based solely on a civil immigration detainer.
In the wake of a recent decision by Avelo Airlines — which has a major hub in Connecticut — to contract with the Department of Homeland Security to carry out deportation flights, the legislature’s Judiciary Committee added language to the bill prohibiting state agencies from contracting with a company unless the leaders and “key personnel” issue a statement saying they won’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
As the 2025 legislative session nears its final days, and the Trump administration expands immigration enforcement, Connecticut advocates expressed concern for the bill’s fate.
During the press conference Thursday, Rev. Joshua Pawelek of the Unitarian Universalist Society East in Manchester said he felt that elected officials, particularly Gov. Ned Lamont, “ appear to be wavering in their support for strengthening the Trust Act.”
Rev. Tracy Johnson Russell of St. Monica’s Episcopal Church in Hartford called on lawmakers not to back down because of fears of retribution from the federal government.
“ I understand there is concern that might mean we lose federal dollars that our state desperately needs,” said Johnson Russell. “ I don’t want that to happen any more than anyone else does. But you know what I want even less? To sell out the rights of our immigrant community members in exchange for some hypothetical future grants.”
Democratic leaders say the bill is currently in “a good spot.” Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, told reporters he expects the bill to come up for a vote in the House of Representatives next week.
Rob Blanchard, a spokesperson for Gov. Ned Lamont, said in a statement that Lamont was “proud” to sign legislation in 2019 that expanded the Trust Act, but that he did not feel the law needed additional expansions.
“Our local law enforcement agencies are focused on maintaining the safety of our neighborhoods and the Governor is focused on making sure people feel safe in our schools, churches, and elsewhere. As many of the previous loopholes were closed, he does not believe the law needs to be revised,” the statement said.
Blanchard told the Connecticut Mirror that Lamont wouldn’t support the law as it’s currently drafted, but he said the discussion with lawmakers is ongoing.
On Wednesday, Ritter told reporters that he didn’t believe that the changes lawmakers were making to the bill would cause problems with the federal government.
“We’re not looking to provoke anybody, but I think we’re within the bounds of the rights of states to do it. And I think we’d rather err on the side of our values in helping people and trying to predict what might be a retaliatory response for doing what we’re legally able to do. We’re not going into federal powers, for sure,” he said.
But House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said he felt the Trust Act had already been pushed too far when it was expanded in 2019.
“To double down and go further — I think it’s just an unnecessary political statement that they want to make,” said Candelora. “I am not interested in picking a fight with the federal government. I think we should be working with ICE to try to make our community safer, and that bill has just gone spiraling out of control in a direction that is not responsible for public safety for the residents of Connecticut.”
David McGuire, executive director of the Connecticut chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the part of the bill most important to his organization was a provision allowing citizens to bring a lawsuit if the Trust Act is violated.
“Without that, the Trust Act is merely a suggestion rather than a mandate,” McGuire told CT Mirror.
Rep. Steven Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, co-chair of the Judiciary Committee, said he was “ready to go” in bringing the bill for debate on the House floor. He denied that any particular part of the bill was holding up negotiations. But he also did not rule out the idea that the bill could be broken up, saying that they were “still working on it.”
Lamont praised the current Trust Act during a press conference Thursday.
“We have a really strong, robust Trust Act. We go after felons and criminals and those that are a danger. And our police on the street, they don’t have time to sit around collecting people’s immigration status,” he said. “I think we’re in a good place there.”
He said there might be “other ways” to protect immigrants in Connecticut besides changing the Trust Act.
Rep. Maryam Khan, D-Windsor, and Rep. Farley Santos, D-Danbury, both of whom migrated to the U.S. as small children, spoke during the Thursday press conference. Farley Santos was undocumented when he arrived in the US at the age of 6, and he said he remembers his parents fear of driving over the speed limit.
“ And yet we continue to contribute to our community, to give back as often as we could. I’ll remind you that all those taxes that my parents paid, they were never able to get any of it back,” Santos said.
Abby Fisher Williamson, a professor at Trinity College who researches immigration policy, questioned the idea that the bill would put Connecticut in the crosshairs of the federal government.
“ What if we let this bill die because we’re scared — we’re scared of Trump’s retaliation? Will that stop him?” she said. “No.
“The institutions and jurisdictions that have capitulated to Trump’s overreach are not suddenly in his good graces,” she said.
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