To the Editor:

Ahead of Fairfield’s special election for First Selectperson, the League of Women Voters held a debate, in which a question was asked about what our First Selectperson will do to protect residents if ICE comes to Fairfield. As with any issue as sensitive as this, there was a mix of emotions from the crowd. Perhaps for some, their news hadn’t shown them our Vice President directing ICE to go door to door and promising ICE agents “absolute immunity”, a claim that is not only chilling but for which there is absolutely no legal basis. This also feels like a good time to brush up on the 4th Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Our Founding Fathers took great care to ensure that in this new land, people would not again be the victim of a tyrannical leader who could rule by force, seizing their property without any probable cause. Thankfully, here in Connecticut, we enacted the TRUST Act, which recommits to the very principle that a warrant is required for local law enforcement to cooperate with immigration enforcement. The TRUST Act does nothing to protect violent or dangerous criminals; it ensures our police maintain trust with the communities they are charged to protect and serve.

During the debate, Republican State Senator and First Selectperson candidate, Tony Hwang, gave a carefully worded answer that neglected to disclose his actual votes on this issue. When he had the power to take action and protect immigrants in our communities, he voted against the TRUST Act, and he voted against them multiple times. While it’s easy to speak the words you believe people want to hear when you’re sitting in the hot seat and looking for votes, doing the right thing when no one is looking, and standing up for the marginalized when it’s politically challenging is the real test of leadership. Tony Hwang has failed to stand behind his words and put these nice-sounding sentiments into action when it mattered. 

At another debate, Hwang went so far as to state, “Fairfield is not Minneapolis,” while geographically true, it neglects the reality that our president put Connecticut on a list of states that he has identified as the target for his retribution. He announced we will no longer receive any federal funds, simply because we are ensuring every Connecticut resident not only receives due process but is also treated as a human being worthy of dignity and respect.

Hwang and Fairfield’s RTC are working overtime to distance themselves from the chaos and cruelty of their federal leaders. They want us to believe that Trump’s indiscriminate constitutional abuses will never come to CT or Fairfield. This flies in the face of ICE’s own data, which says only 8% of the individuals they’ve arrested have any violent criminal conviction, and 73% of individuals they’ve detained have no criminal conviction whatsoever. Certainly not “the worst of the worst”. As of October, 174 known American citizens had also been rounded up, abused, or detained by ICE. Those numbers do not even include what we’ve seen in Minnesota. People’s rights and freedoms have taken a backseat under this administration to their rhetoric and misinformation campaign to consolidate control and power, and no community is immune, certainly not Fairfield. 

None of this even touches on Hwang’s silence to the reality that this Administration has taken $175 billion of our tax dollars to enact this cruel campaign, all while we lose state and municipal aid that will fall on us to fill, as our neighbors go without healthcare, food assistance, and face rising energy prices.

Even as Tony,  a self-declared proud immigrant, is mum on what’s happening to other immigrants in our state and across the nation, his own voting record against protections for immigrants and his silence when it matters, speaks volumes about his leadership–or lack thereof.

Andrew Liverant
Fairfield, CT