Immigration agents have arrested travelers at Tweed New Haven Airport this month, and on Monday New Haven’s mayor, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and immigrant advocates stood together at New Haven City Hall to denounce it. The arrests were first reported by CT Mirror, which covered Monday’s press conference, and they land just days before a new Connecticut law limiting civil arrests in certain public places takes effect on Thursday, Oct. 1.
For Milford, Orange, Stratford and West Haven, this is not a far-off story. Tweed, in New Haven’s Morris Cove neighborhood, is the closest commercial airport to all four towns. Here is what happened, what each side says, and how the rules are changing.
What happened at Tweed
On Sept. 4, ICE arrested Deng Dhieu Kuach Deng, a first-year basketball player at Southern Connecticut State University who is originally from South Sudan, as he tried to catch a domestic flight out of Tweed. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest to the New Haven Independent, saying Deng entered the country legally but overstayed. “All of his claims will be heard by an immigration judge and he will receive due process,” a DHS spokesperson said. “This administration will not ignore the rule of law.”
Deng’s lawyers went to federal court the day he was arrested, and U.S. District Judge Vernon Oliver issued an order barring ICE from moving him to a detention center more than 150 miles from Connecticut. He was released on Sept. 16 and is back on SCSU’s campus, according to CT Mirror and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.
Blumenthal said Monday he had met that morning with four young people held by ICE within the past three weeks: two picked up at Tweed and two at Bradley International Airport, Deng among them. “None of them have any criminal record,” Blumenthal said, adding that while they are not U.S. citizens, “they have a legal basis to be in this country.” Each spent two to three weeks in detention before being released, according to Glenn Formica, a lawyer with The American Immigrant Legal Clinic who handled the cases. CT Mirror reported that ICE did not respond to its request for comment on the recent cases.
The airport says federal rules tie its hands
Tweed is owned by the City of New Haven, overseen by the quasi-public Tweed New Haven Airport Authority and run day to day by Avports, a private company. Avports has said a federal security regulation, 49 CFR 1542.209(m)(1), requires airports to grant unescorted access to qualifying government employees, including federal law enforcement officers, and that all badges remain subject to the airport’s TSA-approved security program.
“We must allow TSA and New Haven PD the ability to quickly assess a threat,” airport management said in a statement reported by CT News Junkie. “We cannot leave a security gap where someone carrying a gun and wearing a mask in the parking lot or terminal is simply assumed to be a federal officer.” An Avports spokesperson told the Independent earlier this month that the airport “has no visibility into or influence over enforcement activity.”
New Haven wants Tweed to do only what the law requires
In a Sept. 16 letter to airport authority chairman Robert Reed, Elicker asked the authority not to go beyond federal requirements in helping ICE. Among his requests: review all recent airport interactions with ICE, stop any preferential parking for ICE agents that the public doesn’t get, notify the city immediately when the airport learns of an ICE enforcement attempt, and post signs in arrivals and departures explaining people’s rights under the new state law.
Reed wrote back on Sept. 18 that the mayor’s “reasonable concerns and suggestions merit a thorough analysis,” and that the authority and Avports had begun reviewing the federal requirements, the airport’s security program and the new state statute. He said the authority expected to finish that review within about a week and then send a full response.
“We do not want the airport to cooperate with ICE beyond what it is legally required to do,” Elicker said Monday. He also urged people to “use their own judgement about anywhere they go right now.”
What changes Thursday
Public Act 26-14, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in May, creates “protected areas” starting Oct. 1. Section 7 of the law says no peace officer may detain or arrest someone on the basis of a civil offense, such as an immigration violation, in a protected area, a state facility or a municipal facility unless that person is the subject of a judicial warrant. People who believe the rule was broken can sue in Superior Court.
The protected areas listed in the law include:
- Schools, from preschools through colleges and universities
- Hospitals and urgent care centers
- Houses of worship
- Playgrounds, child care centers, and school bus stops when children are present
- Social service sites such as shelters, food pantries and treatment programs
- Disaster-relief sites and cemeteries
Airports are not named on that list. In his letter, Elicker wrote that because Tweed is classified as a municipal facility, the new law applies there. The airport authority has not yet publicly responded to that point beyond saying it is reviewing the statute. A separate part of the same law, already in effect, sets rules for civil arrests on courthouse grounds.
How local police fit in
Connecticut’s Trust Act (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-192h), first passed in 2013 and strengthened since, generally bars local police from spending time or resources helping ICE hold or track people on civil immigration detainers. There are exceptions, including a signed judicial warrant, a terrorist watchlist match and certain serious criminal convictions.
Records obtained by Connecticut Public and published by CT Mirror in August show how that plays out close to home:
- Milford: In 2025, Milford police gave ICE arrest reports and booking photos for five people arrested for driving under the influence. The department logged three ICE contacts that year and did not give ICE access to anyone in custody. Police Chief Keith Mello said any contact “was, in our analysis, not in violation of the CT Trust Act.”
- Orange: Orange police told ICE that a person in custody was being taken to a courthouse, after ICE asked by fax and phone whether the person was being held. A department spokesperson said the communication was allowed under the Trust Act.
- License plate cameras: Milford’s published FAQ on its Flock cameras says state law prohibits sharing that data with federal agencies for immigration enforcement.
Not everyone agrees the Trust Act is good policy. Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto told Connecticut Public that the law forces officers to second-guess routine cooperation with federal counterparts. “If the person who committed the crime is a citizen or an immigrant here legally or an immigrant here illegally, police should investigate that and make appropriate arrests,” he said.
Federal court records also show that a West Haven resident detained by ICE filed a habeas corpus petition in Connecticut federal court on Aug. 19. The case was moved to the District of Rhode Island the next day.
The federal view
ICE has described its Connecticut work as targeting people who broke the law. In a Sept. 11 news release, ICE’s Boston office said it arrested 118 people during a four-day operation in southern Connecticut the week of Aug. 24. It said many had been released from jail by “sanctuary politicians who refused to honor ICE’s immigration detainers,” and it listed several people facing charges including child sexual assault, weapons and drug offenses. The release gave details on only a handful of the 118.
Sen. Chris Murphy has asked DHS for a full breakdown of those arrests, including locations, immigration status and any criminal charges, by Oct. 21. DHS called Murphy’s account of an arrest at a Danbury school bus stop “FALSE” and “a work of fiction.”
At Monday’s press conference, Kica Matos, a New Haven resident who leads the National Immigration Law Center, said agents have worn Tweed access badges and parked in private airport lots, and she called on Avports and the airport authority to stop being “complicit with ICE.”
Where to get help
These nonprofits serve the greater New Haven and Bridgeport area. Call ahead; several offices see people by appointment only.
- IRIS – Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (New Haven): main line 203-562-2095, client help line 203-997-8490, info@irisct.org, irisct.org
- CIRI – Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (Bridgeport and New Haven offices, by appointment): 203-336-0141, info@cirict.org, cirict.org
- New Haven Legal Assistance Association: 205 Orange St., New Haven, 203-946-4811, nhlegal.org
- Make the Road Connecticut (Bridgeport): 87 Washington Ave., 475-302-6022, info@maketheroadct.org, maketheroadct.org
As of Monday evening, Milford Voice had found no public statements about the Tweed arrests from the mayors of Milford, Stratford or West Haven or from Orange’s first selectman. If your town issues one, we will update this story.
KEY FACTS
- ICE arrested SCSU student-athlete Deng Deng at Tweed on Sept. 4; DHS says he overstayed a visa. He was released Sept. 16.
- Sen. Blumenthal says four young people were detained at Tweed and Bradley in about three weeks; he says none has a criminal record.
- Tweed’s operator says federal rule 49 CFR 1542.209 requires it to give federal officers airport access.
- New Haven’s mayor asked the airport authority on Sept. 16 to limit help to ICE to what the law requires; the authority says it is reviewing.
- Starting Oct. 1, Public Act 26-14 bars civil arrests without a judicial warrant in schools, hospitals, houses of worship and other protected areas, plus state and municipal facilities.
- The Trust Act already limits how Milford, Orange, Stratford and West Haven police can help ICE, with exceptions for serious crimes and judicial warrants.
Should Connecticut towns change how local police work with federal immigration agents?
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