New Haven Independent
It's Your Town. Read All About It.
Hamden’s mayor, town council president, and two dozen immigrant rights activists and fellow politicians gathered on Dixwell Avenue Wednesday afternoon to denounce an ICE raid that took place at a nearby car wash Wednesday morning.
Still looking for answers as to what exactly happened, the elected officials said that federal agents seized a total of eight people.
An eyewitness to the raid, meanwhile, said she saw at least 10 agents show up — some wearing masks and tactical gear — and described a man being slammed to the ground and a woman being hauled away into an unmarked van.
Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett said at Wednesday’s press conference at the Keefe Community Center that the raid happened at the Optimo Car Wash, located at 1126 Dixwell Ave., at approximately 10:20 a.m.
She said that, as part of this raid, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained a mother and father while their kids were in school.
“The acts from the administration and ICE are deplorable, they are disgusting, they are not what we represent in Hamden,” Garrett said. “People are living in fear because of an inhumane presidency.”
Wednesday afternoon’s presser was also attended by Hamden Legislative Council President Dominique Baez and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, among a host of state legislators, pastors, and immigrant rights advocates.
One of the speakers at the presser identified herself only by her first name, Rachel, and said she was at the car wash Wednesday morning when the raid took place.
She said that, while she was at the car wash, she heard “tires screeching to a halt.” When she ran to the window to see what was happening, she said she saw at least 10 ICE agents, many of whom were wearing masks and tactical gear. She heard the girl who works at the front desk scream.
She said she saw a “man who was slammed to the ground.”
When she asked the man if he was OK, Rachel said, an ICE agent “got in my face and said I would end up just like him” if she interfered. She said she saw an ICE agent haul the girl who screamed into an unmarked van.
An employee at NE Motors, which sits right next door to the car wash, told the Independent on Wednesday that she also saw the raid play out, and that she saw a bunch of people get tackled. She said that, after ICE took people away, the car wash was left open and people’s stuff were strewn about. She identified Rachel as a neighbor of the car wash, and said that Rachel and other staff helped close up the car wash after the raid.
The ICE raid was partially captured on video and posted on Instagram by the New Haven Immigrants Coalition. The video’s caption states that seven people were “confirmed” to have been detained by ICE officers around 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA) organizer John Lugo went to Optimo Car Wash after hearing about the incident. He told the Independent Wednesday that he heard that ICE agents surrounded the store and seized seven people, including a ULA member. He said he was also told that a client of the car wash confronted ICE officers, who then tried to arrest her. Lugo was unsure if the client had actually been arrested.
Garrett drove to Optimo after hearing that ICE had detained people there. She said in a separate interview with the Independent that witnesses to the incident told her that seven people were taken, while the Hamden Police Department told her they heard the number was eight.
“We’re in the middle of contacting family members of those detained,” added Garrett.
Tina Colón Williams, the lawyer representing previously ICE-detained Wilbur Cross student Esdrás Zabaleta-Ramirez, learned about the incident from the family member of someone who was detained. “It’s all very sudden, and we’re still figuring out what’s going on,” said Colón Williams in an interview with the Independent. She heard either eight or nine people were seized.
Garrett convened the press conference about the incident at the Keefe Community Center in Hamden at 2:30 p.m. Roughly 30 people attended the presser.
Rev. Emily Scott from First Presbyterian Church in New Haven said that one person who was taken was a customer, and not a worker. She said that when she and the New Haven Immigrants Coalition showed up Wednesday morning, “the entire staff was gone with no trace.” Doors were locked and no one was there to talk with them.
At 2:58 p.m. Wednesday., U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro sent out an email press release about the Hamden ICE raid.
“Right now, I am focused on confirming the safety and status of those who were detained during the raid on a Hamden car wash today, as well as their family members, some of whom are school-age children,” she is quoted as saying in that press release. “The aggressive tactics used by ICE and endorsed by President Trump have escalated tensions with communities here and across the country, exacerbating fear. They are not making Americans any safer. I will continue to engage with local leaders and law enforcement to understand the basis for this raid and to ensure that the rights of these individuals and all Connecticut residents are respected.”
Representatives from ICE have not responded to requests for comment.
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