When the name of a Meriden 16-year-old was read at Francis T. Maloney High School’s graduation Tuesday, the crowd cheered — even though he was not there to hear it.
Kevin and his father were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week in Hartford after a scheduled immigration check-in, officials said. They're being detained in Texas.
Recent Francis T. Maloney High School graduate Ella Rossi was supposed to sit beside Kevin at commencement.
"Having that empty chair at graduation was just a terrible reminder of what's going on in our country right now and what's going on in our own school system and to our youth," she told rallygoers in New Haven the following day. "This is absolutely unacceptable."
The day before the graduation, alleged federal immigration agents detained four employees at a Southington car wash, leading to an afternoon resurgence of morning protests in the wake of all that happened in Los Angeles over the weekend.
And that same day, New Haven Police confirm, a mom was detained in The Hill neighborhood after getting her kids in the car for school drop-off. Unidad Latina en Acción leader John Lugo has been in touch with the family. He said ICE agents reportedly left the children, ages 13 and 8, in the running car as they took in their mother.
The culmination of it all in the last week led to a rally in New Haven on Wednesday, led by more than a dozen local organizations — from CT Shoreline Indivisible to Unidad Latina en Acción to First and Summerfield United Methodist Church.
“These actions are not isolated—they are part of a coordinated attack on civil liberties, labor rights, and immigrant dignity,” the groups said in a press release ahead of the event. “We call on the public, elected officials, labor unions and the media to stand with us in rejecting state-sponsored violence, racialized enforcement policies, and the imposition of racism in the United States.”
Rallygoers speak out
The groups gathered in front of the federal building in New Haven because that is where the mother, who was detained on Monday, was allegedly first held. Her children and their father were in attendance.
The daughter, 13-year-old Monse, addressed the crowd through tears.
"Calling her once a day hurts so much. You don't know the pain you're putting families through. I hope you genuinely consider what you're doing to my family because staying late up and hoping to get a call or thinking about my mom hurts me so much. It hurts me deeply."
A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately provide details about the New Haven incident to Connecticut Public. But the family told the New Haven Independent that Monse’s mother was set to appear in criminal court later the day of her ICE detainment on misdemeanor charges stemming from a dispute about childcare with extended family.
Several speakers at the rally pointed out what they considered the lack of action on the part of officials, like Gov. Ned Lamont, but when New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker got up to speak, he pointed to the city's direct legal battle with the Trump administration.
"I commit to you that we will continue to be a welcoming city that welcomes every person because it is the right thing to do, because it is something that expresses our values as a city," Elicker said, "and we are here together to say that New Haven has every legal possible, every legal access that we can, to fight for the rights of our residents."
The Wednesday action came ahead of No Kings Day rallies this Saturday, June 14, which is President Donald Trump’s birthday. There were 1,600 simultaneous rallies planned nationwide as of 12:30 p.m.midday Wednesday, with 30 of those taking place across Connecticut. The largest is planned at the state Capitol in Hartford.
This post has been updated.
