Chris Powell: Key Conn. Democrats keep pretending they aren’t obstructing ICE

MANCHESTER, Conn.

Some Connecticut Democrats keep doubling down in support of illegal immigration and obstruction of immigration-law enforcement even as they keep pretending they're not doing so.

The other week at the Legislative Office Building about 25 Democratic elected officials held a news conference that made a spectacle of their contradictions.

A week earlier state Rep. Corey Paris (D-Stamford) had issued a warning on social media that federal immigration agents were active in his district. He urged people to “remain vigilant, stay aware of our surroundings, and, above all, prioritize your safety," as well as to bring immigration-enforcement actions to the attention of groups that assist illegal immigrants.

Responding on social media, a conservative organization accused Paris of publicizing the “live location" of immigration agents and urged the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to “charge him." 

ICE reposted the accusation, prompting, according to Paris, lots of anonymous threats against him. He denied disclosing the “live location" of immigration agents and putting any agents at risk.

Indeed, Paris had not posted that agents were, for example, working around the Stamford train station or a particular supermarket. But his district is a small place with defined borders, and citing it conveyed information useful to people seeking to remain in the country illegally, so Paris's intention was clear: to obstruct enforcement of immigration law.

At their news conference, Democratic elected officials, including Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, minimized that aspect of the controversy. They concentrated on the threats that Paris received, as if there is substantial political disagreement in Connecticut about the impropriety of such threats. (Even Republican state legislators felt obliged to deplore the threats against Paris while failing to deplore what he did.) 

No, the substantial political disagreement is about illegal immigration.

“Corey did nothing wrong," Blumenthal insisted, and his colleagues at the news conference repeated this assertion. 

All this came just days after Gov. Ned Lamont and state Atty. Gen. William Tong had proclaimed again that Connecticut is not a “sanctuary state" and does not interfere with immigration-law enforcement.

No one in journalism called the governor and the attorney general to ask why, if Connecticut is not a “sanctuary state," a state legislator had just acted as if it is one and if they approved of what he did. 

Indeed, in calling their news conference the Democratic elected officials must have been confident that no one in the Capitol press corps would ever question them critically about illegal immigration.

No one asked the Democrats if, by saying Paris did “nothing wrong," they meant that trying to sabotage immigration-law enforcement is OK.  

No one asked if they would feel justified in doing what Paris did if they knew that immigration agents were working in a particular area. 

No one asked how the explosion in the country's illegal immigrant population in recent years is likely to affect congressional redistricting and which political party will benefit most from it.

No one asked if immigration-law violators who have not been accused or convicted of other offenses should be exempt from enforcement -- that is, if there should be another immigration amnesty.

No one asked if, for the country's protection, every foreigner should get ordinary vetting before being admitted.

And no one asked if, before publicizing immigration enforcement in his district, Paris should have determined whether the agents were going after criminals or just ordinary immigration law violators.

But almost simultaneously with the Democratic news conference,ICE announced that in a recent four-day operation in Connecticut it had arrested 65 people, 29 of whom “had been convicted or charged in the United States with serious crimes, including kidnapping, assault, drug offenses, weapons violations, and sex crimes." Others, ICE said, had criminal records in their native countries.

“Connectiut is a sanctuary no more," ICE said, implying that there would be more enforcement in the state. 

How much more enforcement will be required in Connecticut before critical questions are put to public officials who deplore it?

Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years (CPowell@cox.net).