An attorney gave guidance to staff and faculty at the University of Connecticut Health on how to handle U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a virtual workshop on Friday.
New Haven Legal Assistance Association attorney Maureen Abell gave the presentation with a student representative from Junta for Progressive Action, a nonprofit in New Haven.
The presentation was hosted by the Office for Inclusion and Civil Rights and was primarily for staff and faculty at UConn Health according to Kathleen Holgerson, interim assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion at UConn Health. Holgerson requested that participants remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic.
“ICE’s strategy is to assume that people do not know their rights,” the representative from Junta for Progressive Action said.
They said the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, a grassroots organization, is trying to get doorbell cameras around New Haven to hold ICE accountable for any rights violations, according to the workshop.
Junta for Progressive Action is the oldest Hispanic community-based nonprofit in New Haven. Its website says that it collaborates with Hispanic and immigrant communities to eliminate socioeconomic barriers and advance social, economic and civic well-being.
Two pieces of advice that Abell said were most important was to stay calm when interacting with ICE and never to lie or give any officers fake documents. Not following this guidance could give ICE more excuses to escalate the situation, according to the attorney.
“For the most part you don’t have to be helpful,” Abell said, noting that being calm with law enforcement doesn’t always mean being cooperative.
The “Know Your Rights” workshop broke down ways to balance that in three different situations: at home, at work and in public.
People have the strongest amount of legal protection from ICE at home because ICE needs a warrant signed by a judge to enter because of the Fourth Amendment. The attorney said that keeping the door closed and asking for identification through a window or peephole will reassure these rights.
“If they had the right to do something without your consent, they’re just going to do it,” Abell said. “[ICE] has a lot of tactics at their disposal to try and manipulate you or just downright lie to you.”
Counting on people not knowing the difference between an administrative warrant and a judicial warrant is one example of a tactic ICE uses to manipulate people into waiving their right to deny a home search, according to Abell. Two images, one of a judge-signed court order and the other an ICE warrant, were then compared in the presentation to help the audience understand the differences.
In frequently asked questions, the ICE website says “ICE does not need judicial warrants to make arrests.” The website doesn’t elaborate on the warrants needed to conduct searches but adds that privacy concerns ban officials from showing warrants to uninvolved parties.
Rights protecting people from ICE at work are more limited, according to the workshop. The presentation said ICE has the right to enter any public area of a workspace but would need a warrant for private employee spaces. The Junta for Progressive Action representative said a warrant isn’t needed if another employee gives permission. Abell later added in an email to the Daily Campus that part of what makes workplaces so vulnerable is the number of people who could give permission for entry.
Abell said that public spaces come with the least legal protection from ICE because they can approach you. Drivers are even more vulnerable because identification is required when pulled over. People are allowed to withhold their consent to searches, but consent is not always required for ICE to take action, according to Abell.
During the presentation, a UConn Waterbury professor asked for more specific information about what to do if ICE comes on campus.
“We are a Hispanic serving institution as designated by the federal government, and my students are scared,” the professor said.
The Junta for Progressive Action representative said that classrooms, especially when in session, are private spaces where ICE needs a judicially signed warrant to enter. The rapid response line for community defense at New Haven Immigrants Coalition was one resource given to the audience if they witness ICE activity.
Families were also recommended to create plans for childcare if caretakers suddenly got taken by ICE or experienced a different emergency. The student representatives said that Junta for Progressive Action accomplishes this through the Red Folder Project.
The project is “designed to empower individuals at risk of deportation by helping them prepare essential documents in advance,” according to United Way of Connecticut.
If ICE violates these rights, the presentation said to write down the officer’s badge, patrol car numbers, agency name, any witnesses and then file a written complaint. The legal right to record in public can also help document ICE’s actions, according to the attorney.
This article was updated on Nov.19 to clarify Abell’s statements on warrants, consent and workplace permission and on Nov. 25 to correct which organization coordinated the doorbell initiative.