OP-ED: Improving the Trust Act – Enhancing the Partnership Between Local Law Enforcement and Federal Immigration Officials

Manslaughter, assault, enticing a minor, burglary, arson. Should police be able to hold offenders arrested for these C felonies on an ICE detainer?

Democrats in the General Assembly majority believe police should cut them free and that’s why Connecticut has something called the Trust Act. A detainer from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is a request from ICE of federal, state, or local law enforcement to hold an illegal immigrant for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them.

Rep. Callahan spent most of his life around the criminal justice system and law enforcement, as an Adult Probation Officer and Chief Probation Officer. In his years working with Probation, he worked with numerous law enforcement agencies from municipal, state, and federal agencies.  The goal was always collaboration with the goal of optimum community safety.

The Trust Act is a detriment to public safety as it is an impediment for our Connecticut Law Enforcement agencies. It keeps one agency, ICE, out of the equation and blocking them from information that keeps our citizens safe.   Allowing ICE access to our Courthouses, Correctional Facilities, Police Stations, Parole and Probation offices allows law enforcement to take felony offenders into custody in a safe and controlled environment.

For years, the General Assembly has considered and even enacted a number of proposals that make it harder for police to be proactive and make it easier for criminals to get away with their crimes.

House Republicans recently unveiled a proposal to reform Connecticut’s Trust Act, making it easier for law enforcement officers to communicate with federal immigration officials and detain illegal aliens charged with felony crimes, domestic violence, or terrorism.

It shouldn’t be controversial that these offenses lead to the offender being detained.

The House Republicans’ proposal would reform the Trust Act to allow state and local law enforcement agencies to hold an undocumented immigrant pursuant to an ICE detainer request for up to 48 hours, and without a judicial warrant, when such individual has been charged with a Class A, B, or C felony, crime of family violence, or terrorism.

Contact with federal authorities under current law is only triggered with convictions for an A or B felony.  The GOP plan would establish that federal contact following an arrest for an A, B, and now a C felony.

Other C felonies include crimes such as: threatening with intent to cause evacuation of a school or day care, house of religious worship, or religiously-affiliated community center, strangulation or suffocation, sexual assault, and more.

These proposals aren’t coming out of nowhere. Take a look at some of the recent media coverage. Connecticut’s parole board, which just last month released from prison an illegal migrant and convicted pedophile. The board also counseled him on how he can avoid deportation, and later ignored his admission that he may offend again. The Connecticut Department of Corrections in December declined to honor an ICE detainer against a Jamaican national with three felony convictions and released him into the public.

The Republican proposal to reform the Trust Act would protect Connecticut residents from the violent felons and more closely align state law with federal law.

A public hearing will be held on HB 7211 on March 19, 2025, at 10am in Room 2C of the Legislative Office Building. Register to testify at cga.ct.gov/jud. You can submit written testimony here.

Rep. Patrick Callahan worked in the criminal justice field for almost 27 years as an Adult Probation Officer for 10 years and a Chief Probation Officer for 17 years.

Rep. Tammy Nuccio is the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee and a strong advocate of public safety legislation and law enforcement.

Rep. Tony Scott is the Ranking Member of the Housing Committee and has advocated for and proposed bills to provide necessary resources to first responders.