HARTFORD–A group of people gathered in Hartford on Monday afternoon to protest a Supreme Court decision impacting deportations.
The protest was held in front of the Ribicoff Federal Building, which houses the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Hartford. It’s located at 450 Main St., and also houses a federal court.
More than 100 protesters blocked Main Street around 4:10 p.m., chanting that there shouldn’t be one more deportation. They were singing “Out of the shadows, into the streets.”
At 4:30 p.m. the first protester was arrested by Hartford Police. In all nine were arrested–seven men and two women. As the arrests occurred, protesters sat down in the middle of Main Street with their banners.
The protest was partially organized by the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance, who promised “civil disobedience” beforehand.
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in a 4-4 decision to leave in place a lower court's decision that said that without congressional approval, the Obama administration didn't have the authority to stop 4 million immigrants from being deported, or to make those people eligible for work permits.
President Obama issued an executive action in 2014 putting a moratorium on deportations, which is what was being challenged in the United States vs. Texas.
Now, the injunction on the DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) and expanded DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) programs remains in place, allowing deportations to continue. DAPA is meant to halt deportations for parents whose children legally live in the United States, and DACA halts deportations for immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally before the age of 16 and before 2007 (the expanded program, which was part of the executive action the Supreme Court was ruling on, expanded that date to 2010).
