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A 13-year-old girl told a crowd of protesters on Wednesday about her mother, a woman who New Haven officials say was detained early this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Frank Street in front of her children.

“We need our mom. I’m only 13 — I’m not going to be able to handle this all alone,” Monse, who declined to provide her last name, told the crowd. “You’re not just doing this to my family, you’re hurting other immigrant families who need their parents back home. You’re causing a lot of pain to these families by taking them away just because you have no reason to do so. I would understand if she would have done something very illegal, but in this case my mom is one of the victims.”

As the girl stopped speaking and wept, a protester called out to her, “You’re not alone.”

The protest was organized to bring attention to the recent ICE activities in New Haven and across the country, during an explosive week of national protest as the Trump administration sent the National Guard to suppress protests and detain protesters in Los Angeles.

According to New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson, the woman arrested in that city had a pending case in state court.

“It’s supposed to go to court next Monday, but the charges are misdemeanors,” Jacobson said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We know the woman was detained. We don’t know the manner.”

Kica Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center, also spoke at the rally on Wednesday and said that advocates have worked hard for decades to achieve a reputation for the city of New Haven as a welcoming place for immigrants.

“We are outraged and appalled by what this administration is doing,” Matos said of the Trump administration. “Now they have come to our city and, in the middle of a morning, a woman taking her children to school gets grabbed by ICE, taken out of her car, in front of her children, abducted and kidnapped in this alleged democracy.”

Four employees in were also arrested by ICE while working at a Southington car wash on Monday.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker also spoke at the rally, committing to protect immigrant residents.

“These are not just words, these are actions. We have sued the Trump administration,” Elicker said. When New Haven was named a sanctuary city by the Trump administration, with the intention of cutting off Department of Justice funds, the city sued in response. “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 pledged to take further legal action to fight for the rights of residents.

Hope Chávez, the executive director of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, also spoke at the rally, encouraging U.S. citizens to stand up for those without citizenship. She also discussed a Rapid Response Line that can be used to reach advocates in case of a possible ICE arrest.

“You’re gonna call that Rapid Response Line when you think you see ICE in the community — even if you’re not sure, you’re gonna call this line,” Chávez said.

Laura Tillman is CT Mirror’s Human Services Reporter. She shares responsibility for covering housing, child protection, mental health and addiction, developmental disabilities, and other vulnerable populations. Laura began her career in journalism at the Brownsville Herald in 2007, covering the U.S.–Mexico border, and worked as a statehouse reporter for the Associated Press in Mississippi. She was most recently a producer of the national security podcast “In the Room with Peter Bergen” and is the author of two nonfiction books: The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts (2016) and The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia (2023), which was just awarded the 2024 James Beard Award for literary writing. Her freelance work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. Laura holds a degree in International Studies from Vassar College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Goucher College.