By Bridget Volpe –

Three armed and masked United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detaining man on Bates Place in Danbury. Folded papers can be seen in the man’s cuffed hands.

Danbury continues to be a hub for ICE activity after agents detained a man not far from WCSU’s Midtown Campus on Monday, September 14. Local witnesses and Danbury Unites for Immigrants (DUFI) advocates swarmed Bates Place to record the detainment. At least two of the three agents were seen with guns in their holsters. All three were masked.

ICE had a significant presence on White Street that day, notably in the parking lots of law firms next to WCSU and of the courthouse across the street. The man was taken into custody in the minutes following 1 p.m. after hours of ICE activity in these areas around Midtown. Bates Place is about a five minute walk from the school. 

“¡Cómo se llama!” cried multiple witnesses to the man being abducted, begging for his name as federal agents put him into one of the multiple ICE vehicles present at the scene. The man remained silent as he was detained, clutching papers in his cuffed hands.

The crowd continued to fill the street as he was taken away, shouting at the agents as they left. The man’s identity is currently unknown. 

This was not ICE’s first detainment such a short distance from WCSU. Just one day before the Fall semester began, another detainment occurred on Moss Avenue, roughly a six minute walk from the university parallel to Fifth Avenue. ICE was present again on Moss Ave on September 14.

ICE agents and vehicles at a home on Moss Avenue on August 24 as witnesses and DUFI advocates record.

Although the community support is clear, ICE activity remains in Danbury and many students fear for their safety:

“It’s very scary… I have a few friends that are scared that they’re gonna get taken away,” said one sophomore.

In a statement to The Echo, culture journalist Alivia Stonier commented on the matter, stating that WCSU “should be protecting students as their own,” expressing her discomfort with ICE’s presence near campus:

“No one deserves what ICE is putting people through. We live under an administration that calls immigrants criminals when the president himself has felony charges against him and is a bigger threat than the individuals he targets. We aren’t free until we all are free,” said Stonier.

These students’ concerns are not unfounded. On April 10, it was revealed that federal agents have detained someone on Midtown in the Fifth Avenue parking lot, cited by President Jesse Bernal in a university-wide email. While Bernal stated that “the individual who was arrested is not affiliated with WestConn,” there is no apparent plan in place for if a student were to be detained. 

“As a staff member in the housing department, we are not allowed to let federal officers through the residence halls or give them any information they ask for,” said a WestConn graduate student. “At the moment, we are told to contact university police so word can reach the president, but I have not seen this in action yet. It’s important that ICE agents know they are not allowed on campus.”

Though Bernal’s email linked university guidelines for general ICE presence on campus, some students have expressed worry about the instructions involving campus police: 

“I’m frustrated that whenever we bring concerns about ICE to administration, we’re told to call campus police. We’ve seen time and time again that police are collaborating with ICE, despite the lies we’re told. I’m sick of nothing tangible being done,” said one student. 

A PBS and NPR collaboration on Connecticut Public, written by Maysoon Khan, reports that nine local police stations “provided records showing contact with federal immigration officials.” Khan’s article notes that “Danbury police also received numerous requests from ICE seeking police reports and booking photos, and provided most of the information.“ 

A Southern Connecticut State University student was also arrested by ICE off-campus on September 4, as reported by CT Insider on MSN. A New Haven Independent article from earlier this year reported that an additional SCSU student was detained on March 31. SCSU is less than an hour away from WestConn.

Kate Katcher, a former adjunct professor at WCSU, reflected on her recent experience of witnessing a missing person’s poster.

“I think it’s disgusting that coming off the train and seeing that sign for a missing Latino man—my first thought was ICE. Not that he’s missing, not that he’s hurt, not that he’s…drowned in one of the lakes up there, but that he’s been taken off the street by ICE with no word to anybody in his family.”

Often, ICE vehicles in Danbury are spotted missing one of their license plates with the other tinted and unreadable from a distance. This makes it difficult to determine the vehicle’s state of origin. The vehicles are also typically unmarked, challenging worried students who would like to avoid them. 

An ICE vehicle with no front plate idles in the parking lot of two law firms on White Street and Moss Avenue. Part of WCSU’s Fifth Avenue parking garage peeks through behind the trees.

Parents are also acutely aware of the existing and growing danger in Danbury. The mother of a WCSU student, Janis Schoenemann, spoke out after the recent Bates Place abduction.

“It is distressing to think any armed federal agents would be near schools or campuses,” said Schoenemann. “It seems to go against everything we should be protecting in this country. Children, teens and adults seeking education in a safe place is what America should be protecting. To have ICE agents targeting these institutions are acts of aggression and blatant systematic racism.” 

In an article updated September 14, CT Insider reported that recent footage from Danbury Public Schools’ bus cameras captured ICE detaining an adult near a school bus stop. Staff writer Joshua Eaton wrote that this is after the Department of Homeland Security denied that anyone was detained on August 26, the day the footage was captured. 

With WCSU’s Midtown campus, the Twinkle Little Star childcare center, the Alternative Center for Excellence, and the Danbury Educational Service Center in such close proximity to ICE activity, parents and students of all ages are at risk.