A bill signing ceremony Monday, staged on the steps of the Connecticut Supreme Court, underscored that the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration tactics will be a central theme trumpeted by Gov. Ned Lamont and other Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

The Democrats were celebrating a law drafted to curtail U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundups at schools, churches and other sensitive places; require federal agents be identifiable by name tag or badge number; and assert the state’s inspector general has jurisdiction to review use of lethal force by ICE, as he does with local police.

Passed over heated and unanimous Republican opposition in the General Assembly, Senate Bill 397 is a partisan rebuke of a president who has broken numerous norms of government, including the mass detentions of immigrants here without legal status — as well as some refugees and others who do.

[RELATED: Bill limiting federal immigration actions gets final passage in CT House]

“We’re going to make sure that the voters hear that in November, here and across this country, that we are taking back our country,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff,  D-Norwalk, one of a dozen speakers offering critiques of President Trump certain to be reprised through election day.

Immigration is among the issues over which Lamont — a moderate Democrat seeking a third term as governor — abandoned remaining hopes of continuing the careful constructive engagement that characterized his dealings with Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic during the first terms of the president and governor.

“Sometimes you think maybe Trump is spouting off in that first couple of months of his administration. You don’t have to respond to every provocation,” Lamont said. “We’re well into a year of this. You see what’s going on on a continuing basis, and that’s why we have to do everything we can by law to protect people here in our state.”

Lamont opened the legislature’s 2026 session on Feb. 4 with a State of the State address that included a strong passage denouncing ICE after two fatal shooting sin Minneapolis. His opponent for the Democratic nomination, Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden, had decried Lamont as too accommodating.

On Monday, House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, agreed with Duff’s assessment that the inspiration for the legislation came from outside the Capitol, fueled by the protesters, some of whom stood with the Democrats on the courthouse steps.

“It also started in the governor’s State of the State address in February, when he made very, very clear this was not going to happen in the state of Connecticut,” Ritter said.

Stephanie Deceus, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and a SEIU 1199 vice president who has helped organize health workers — some of whom have been detained by ICE — wept when her turn came at the microphone. The ICE raids have rippled deeply into immigrant communities and the institutions that serve and employ them.

“People are scared, not just at work, but in their everyday lives,” she said. “Gov. Lamont, thank you. Thank you for signing this bill. But we also must know this is not the end.”

She told the story of a Haitian refugee who trained as a certified nursing assistant with legal status revoked by the Trump administration.

“And guess what happened with her? She lost her job, she lost her dignity, she lost her livelihood, she lost her security, she lost her work permit. Every door knock at her house came with heart pounding,” Deceus said. “Are they going to take me away from my family?”

Lamont was among the officials to recently intervene when immigration agents detained a Cheshire High School student, the son of an Afghan refugee who was an interpreter for the U.S. military and legally admitted with his family to the U.S.

The governor described the student as one of many who belong here.

“There are a lot of folks who belong in this state, and that’s what this law is all about. We love you. We care about you. They belong in this state, and I want you to feel like you’re at home here,” Lamont said.

Attorney General William Tong, Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney of New Haven and others said the new law is consistent with the general police powers reserved to the states under the U.S. Constitution. Ritter said no one disputes the right of ICE to enforce immigration laws.

“But we said you can’t go into places of worship, you can’t interrupt critical medical care, and all students should be allowed to walk to school freely, be educated and feel safe in their classrooms,” Ritter said.

Trump broke with previous administrations, Democrat and Republican, in detaining immigrants in the country openly, who are seeking refugee status or working under temporary protective status, Ritter said.

“Only one administration, only one president, decided to tear down those norms, tear down what had been precedent,” Ritter said. “It’s hard to imagine how on earth we could go from 40 years stability, predictability in these cases, in state enforcement and federal enforcement, and rip it all down. It’s cruel, it’s unnecessary, and it’s wrong.”

Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, one of three Republicans vying for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, said the bill is constitutionally flawed.

“But more importantly, this would aim to constrict the ability of law enforcement to arrest or detain people who are not only in the country illegally, but also arrested or convicted of serious felonies,” Fazio said.

State officials disagree on that assessment.

Fazio rejected the suggestion by Democrats that ICE was overreaching by arresting immigrants who entered the country legally, overstayed visas and established constructive lives here. Many of those immigrants, who lack legal status, are in violation of civil law, not criminal law.

He also was unsympathetic to immigrants who have been arrested after the Trump administration ended their legal status. 

His rival for the nomination, former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, expressed strong support in an interview in November for Trump’s policies — with the notable exception of ICE detaining workers who lacked both legal status or any criminal background.

“Pulling people out of Home Depot to … fill a quota? I could do without that,” she said.

Fazio accused Stewart of favoring amnesty for immigrants living without legal status. Her campaign said that is false, and she opposed S.B. 397. John Healey, her campaign manager, said Connecticut laws intended to protect the ability of immigrants to seek medical care or legal redress in courts force ICE onto the streets.

“She has been very clear she supports the mission of ICE. She vehemently disagrees with Gov. Lamont and legislative Democrats who prefer to see ICE operating in our neighborhoods,” Healey said.