Blumenthal Blasts ICE Tactics; Demands Accountability from DHS After Surge Targeting Connecticut Residents at Schools, Workplaces

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) David Venturella requesting a meeting and demanding information about a dramatic increase in immigration enforcement activity in Connecticut over the last several weeks. The surge has focused on Danbury and nearby towns, where people have been targeted dropping their children off at school and going to work. “Over the past week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents have sown fear and panic among parents, children, and workers as they detained scores of people in Danbury and other towns in Connecticut. What should have been a time of excitement and community as children in Connecticut return to school has quickly turned into a time of genuine terror,” Blumenthal wrote. “ICE’s actions in Connecticut showcased cruelty and brutality, as well as disregard for the safety and well-being of community members, especially children. They fostered an environment of fear that will undoubtedly impact school attendance rates and the emotional health of students, generally.” As Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Blumenthal has led an investigation into DHS’s abuses. Over the last year, Blumenthal and U.S. Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, have hosted four public forums as part of their ongoing inquiry into the lawless and abusive tactics used by federal immigration agents: In March, Blumenthal and Garcia hosted a forum to receive public testimony from young people, mothers, and a school administrator about DHS’s reckless disregard for the safety of children. Prior to the forum, Blumenthal and Garcia released a report entitled “ Cruelty is the Point: How Trump’s Immigration Agenda Endangers Children ,” which documented 128 children who have been injured left unattended or otherwise put at direct risk of harm as a result of operations by DHS personnel. In February, Blumenthal and Garica hosted a public forum on constitutional violations and abuses by ICE. The forum featured testimony from Ryan Schwank, a whistleblower who spoke publicly for the first time about his experience as an Instructor for the incoming “surge” of new ICE recruits at the ICE Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (“FLETC”) in Glynco, Georgia. Teyana Gibson Brown, a U.S. citizen and resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, also testified about ICE agents forcefully entering her home without a judicial warrant, breaking down her door and pointing guns at her family. Stevan Bunnell, the General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017, testified as well. Also in February, Blumenthal and Garcia hosted a forum to receive testimony on the violent tactics and disproportionate use of force by DHS agents. The forum featured testimony from Brent and Luke Ganger , brothers of Renee Nicole Macklin Good, and Antonio Romanucci , the attorney representing their family; Marimar Martinez , Aliya Rahman , and Martin Daniel Rascon , all of whom were violently assaulted by DHS agents; and Seth Stoughton , a former police officer and Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. In December, Blumenthal and Garcia received testimony from five U.S. citizens who were assaulted, detained, and denied their constitutional rights by DHS agents. The forum featured testimony from Americans across the country: Wilmer Chavarria, from Vermont; Dayanne Figueroa, from Illinois; Javier Ramirez, from California; George Retes, from California; and Andrea Velez, from California. The full text of Blumenthal’s letter is available here and copied below. Dear Secretary Mulin and Acting Director Venturella: Over the past week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents have sown fear and panic among parents, children, and workers as they detained scores of people in Danbury and other towns in Connecticut. What should have been a time of excitement and community as children in Connecticut return to school has quickly turned into a time of genuine terror. In just a few days, individuals in Connecticut have been apprehended by masked agents in locations that children frequent such as parks, near an elementary school, and outside a daycare center in Danbury. [1] In one instance, an ICE agent detained a father who walked his child to a bus stop. [2] In another, ICE agents threatened to pepper spray a man detained in front of a preschool. [3] ICE’s actions in Connecticut showcased cruelty and brutality, as well as disregard for the safety and well-being of community members, especially children. They fostered an environment of fear that will undoubtedly impact school attendance rates and the emotional health of students, generally. To date, reports indicate nearly 100 individuals have been arrested [4] but there are likely significantly more—many likely have legal status and no apparent serious criminal history. However, ICE has not released any information about them. [5] National trends indicate that ICE has arrested more immigrants without a criminal conviction this summer than at any other point since President Trump returned to office. [6] There is no reason to believe Connecticut is an exception. Indeed, nationwide reporting indicates that this surge in enforcement in Connecticut follows similar increases in ICE enforcement across the country, which have led to the arrests of 49,000 individuals in July alone. [7] Analysis of recent ICE arrests demonstrates that, in 10 states, “arrests of people who don’t have criminal records increased by 50 percent between last year and this year.” [8] The Trump Administration committed to arresting “the worst of the worst,” but the facts show just the opposite. The senselessness of ICE’s recent surge in enforcement activity is compounded by ICE’s troubling track record of excessive use of force and unlawful behavior. Despite a change in leadership at the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and at ICE, tragedy continues to follow surges in ICE enforcement, as evidenced by recent and tragic killings in Texas and Maine. [9] The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has investigated abuses by DHS immigration officials for well over a year. [10] The Subcommittee has documented unlawful and egregious actions by ICE including the detention of United States citizens; [11] deployment of tear gas and pepper spray against children; [12] 128 children injured, left unattended, or otherwise put in direct risk of harm; [13] and extreme use of physical force such as using a battering ram to knock down a door while children were present inside a home. [14] As ICE continues to acquire dangerous equipment and technology, such as electric shock gloves that act as hand tasers, [15] I am deeply alarmed at the possibility of a future scenario in which such equipment is deployed to cause further harm. As the deployment of ICE agents to America’s communities continues to surge and place community members at risk, including deployments similar to those seen in Connecticut, I demand answers to the following requests for information by September 11, 2026: Does the Department of Homeland Security and/or the White House currently have a quota system in place for daily or monthly arrests of immigrants that must be met? If so, what is that quota? Please list the individuals detained in Connecticut disaggregated by name, age, criminal conviction, if any; applicable warrant, if any; and location of arrest; Please indicate whether any detained individuals in Connecticut were U.S. Citizens or held any other legal status; Please indicate whether any detained individuals in Connecticut were injured during the course of ICE’s operations; If so, list the injury and the geographical location where the injury was sustained. Has DHS or ICE received any complaints, formal or otherwise, against ICE agents for use of force during operations in Connecticut or in any other state since January 1, 2026? If so, please provide documentation for each complaint, including the date, location, agent name, DHS component, and allegations against the agent; the process DHS took to impartially review each complaint; and any disciplinary action taken in response to such complaint. Please indicate whether ICE agents involved in operations in Connecticut are wearing and operating body worn cameras during the entirety of their actions apprehending and taking into custody Connecticut residents; Please indicate whether ICE agents involved in operations nationwide are wearing and using body worn cameras during the entirety of their operations; Please indicate how ICE is identifying and targeting individuals for arrest in Connecticut. I further request that you send a representative to meet with me and respond to these questions and others in my Hartford office sometime this week, or by September 11, 2026. Please contact the Subcommittee should you have any questions about responding to these requests. Thank you for your attention to this matter. -30- [1] Ryan J. Foley & Russ Bynum, ICE Operation in Connecticut Highlights How Arrests are Rising Even in Blue States , AP News, (Aug. 27, 2026), https://apnews.com/article/dhs-ice-connecticut-danbury-arrests-immigration-d8695bbb883591669accaf266e8bb6a9. [2] Id. [3] Joshua Eaton, ICE Reportedly Arrested Nearly 100 People Across Connecticut This Week: What We Know and Don’t Know , CT Insider, (Aug. 29, 2026), https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/ice-arrests-danbury-bridgeport-22408246.php. [4] Id . [5] Id . [6] Albert Sun & Allison McCann, ICE Arrests Soar as People With No Criminal Record Are Increasingly Targeted , N.Y. Times, (Aug. 27, 2026), https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/08/27/us/ice-immigrant-arrests-trump-deportation-dhs.html. [7] Id . [8] David Nakamura & Emmanuel Martinez, How ICE is arresting soaring numbers of immigrants with no criminal record , Wash. Post, (Aug. 28, 2026), https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/08/28/how-ice-arrests-immigrants-with-no-criminal-record-are-soaring-under-trump/. [9] Letter from Sen. Blumenthal to Secretary Mullin (July 16, 2026), https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026.07.16-Blumenthal-and-Garcia-to-Mullin-1.pdf. [10] Letter from Sen. Blumenthal to Acting Director Todd Lyons, (Aug. 26, 2026), https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025-08-26-Letter-from-Sen.-Blumenthal-to-ICE.pdf. [11] See S. Minority Staff of S. Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations, 119th Cong., Unchecked Authority: Examining the Trump Administration’s Extrajudicial Immigration Detentions of U.S. Citizens (Dec. 9, 2025), https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025.12.8_ICE-Report-revised-FINAL.pdf [12] See S. Minority Staff of S. Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations and H. Minority Staff of H.Comm on Oversight and Gov. Reform, 119th Cong., Cruelty is the Point: How Trump’s Immigration Agenda Endangers Children (2026), https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/03-24-2026-PSIOversight-Report-re.-DHS-Harm-to-Children.pdf. [13] Id. [14] Testimony of Teyana Gibson Brown, Public Forum: Our Values at Stake (Part III): Terrorizing communities without warrants and no restraint, 119th Cong., (Feb. 23, 2026), https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-and-robert-garcia-receive-testimony-about-ice-abuses-from-whistleblower-us-citizen-whose-rights-were-violated_former-top-lawyer-at-dhs. [15] Letter from Sens. Blumenthal, Booker, and Padilla to Secretary Mullin and Acting Director Venturella, (Aug 27, 2026), https://www.booker.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/final-booker_letter_to_dhs_ice_re_shock_glovespdf.pdf.