On Monday, May 18, a group of vehicles pulled up on Lafayette Street in Hartford between the Superior Court building and the offices of Community Partners in Action. At least five officers, who appeared to be federal immigration agents, jumped out of the vehicles, arrested a man and took him away in a white Dodge Durango.
The officers wore tactical vests with the word “Police” on the front, according to video of the event shared by advocates who were present. Several, though not all, of the officers wore masks. The officers did not appear to be wearing any clear identification.
“He sexually assaulted somebody, and this is who you guys are protecting!” one of the ICE agents yelled to people recording the arrest, referring to the man the agents had detained. “There are police reports on that.”
One of the people recording the arrest told the agent, who was masked, that Connecticut law doesn’t allow law enforcement officers to wear masks.
“Tell them to arrest me. I dare you. Tell them. Who’s going to arrest me?” the agent replied.
The incident took place just two weeks after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law a bill that, among other things, prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from wearing masks and requires that they be “clearly identified” by a badge or name tag. Violating this law is considered a Class D misdemeanor in the state.
Last week, the federal government filed a lawsuit against Connecticut, calling the law “blatantly unconstitutional” and saying the state has no authority to tell federal agents what they can and cannot do. The federal government argued that requiring agents to remove masks or show identification would put them in danger.
Video of a separate immigration arrest on Wednesday appears to show one officer wearing a mask. One officer appeared to have a badge clipped to his belt, but others didn’t appear to have clear identification, according to individuals who were present at the scene.
In a statement to The Connecticut Mirror regarding the arrests, a spokesperson for ICE said the agency’s officers “wear face coverings for one reason: to protect themselves and their families from real-world threats including agitators. The danger is not hypothetical. Public databases and online ‘lists’ have been created to expose officers’ identities.”
The spokesperson, who did not identify themself by name and wrote from a general email address, added that there have been a rising number of agents being assaulted, attacked by vehicles and subject to death threats.
“To be crystal clear: we will not abide by this unconstitutional ban,” the spokesperson wrote.
Cathryn Vaulman, a spokesperson for the governor, said in a statement Friday that the law passed this year “reflects a core principle.”
“In Connecticut, we defend the safety and dignity of all residents — regardless of immigration status — while ensuring that law enforcement operates with transparency, accountability, and respect for constitutional rights,” Valuman said.
Vaulman said the governor’s office was unaware of any incidents in which masked ICE officers were operating in the state.
The state Division of Criminal Justice is responsible for prosecuting violations of Connecticut’s new law. Spokesperson Alaine Griffin said in a statement that the division “has received no reports from local or State Police regarding this matter.”
A spokesperson from the State Police told CT Mirror that their agency had not received any reports of ICE agents conducting arrests while masked. They said the state police “does not investigate federal agencies.”
The ICE spokesperson identified the man arrested Monday as Alejandro Josue Cervantes-Mencia of Honduras. Court records show that Cervantes-Mencia was arrested in March and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to sell.
“Cervantes-Mencia entered the United States illegally in 2016 and ordered removed by an immigration judge on April 5, 2022. That order is final,” the ICE spokesperson wrote, adding that under the current administration “criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States.”
The ICE spokesperson identified the man arrested Wednesday as Juan Pablo Vasquez-Miranda of Peru. According to ICE, Miranda had entered the US in November of 2022, was granted parole and then released. “His parole has since been terminated,” the spokesperson said.
According to court records, Vasquez-Miranda had pending charges for disorderly conduct, interfering with an emergency call and strangulation/suffocation — a class D felony.
Advocates in other Connecticut cities have also reported an increase in ICE arrests this month, although they say the agents have not been wearing masks.
Mary Elizabeth Smith, deputy director of Make the Road CT, told CT Mirror that her organization had noticed an uptick of ICE arrests in Bridgeport in May, including two just outside the courthouse and one in which the father of a teenager was arrested outside a bus stop.
John Lugo, of Unidad Latina en Acción, told CT Mirror that he knew of around 10 ICE arrests in New Haven this month. He said the arresting agents were not wearing masks.
Members of the New Haven Immigrants Coalition who asked not to be identified by name told CT Mirror that ICE had attempted to detain a man earlier in May who was dropping off his 7-month-old son at daycare. They also mentioned a raid in North Haven on Wednesday, in which they said five people who worked in construction were detained while on their way to work.
The coalition members also said ICE agents were not wearing masks but did not have any visible identification beyond small badges that simply read “ICE.”
Advocates say they’ve noticed a shift in the type of individuals ICE is seeking out to arrest, from people with upcoming court appointments to people with clear criminal records.
Anyone arrested and booked for a crime by local and state police law enforcement have their fingerprints taken and run through an FBI database. Under the Obama Administration, the Safe Communities initiative was created, which automatically sends those fingerprints to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE is then able to see if the person is subject to deportation.
Connecticut does not have the ability to prevent this data from being shared with ICE.
An April report from the Deportation Data Project showed that “street arrests” or arrests of people outside of jails and prison, increased by a factor of 11 in 2025 compared to the last six months of the Biden administration.
Data from the same source analyzed by CT Mirror found that the percentage of ICE arrests of people with pending charges in Connecticut jumped from 12% of all arrests in the first six months of 2024 to 50% of the arrests during that same period in 2025.
Clarification:
The Division of Criminal Justice is responsible for prosecuting violations of Connecticut’s new law. An earlier version of this story said the office of the Chief State’s Attorney was responsible.
