Connecticut TRUST Act
Originally passed: 2013
Major revisions: 2019, 2025
Status: Active Law
Why This Bill Protects Immigrant Communities
- Limits detainer compliance: Local law enforcement can only comply with ICE detainer requests if ICE presents a judicial warrant, the person is on a terrorist watch list, or they've been convicted of a serious felony (Class A or B)
- Prohibits status-based detention: Cannot arrest or detain someone solely on the basis of a civil immigration detainer
- Restricts information sharing: Limits information local police can provide to ICE without consent
- Prevents ICE access to facilities: Prisons and detention centers cannot allow ICE to "roam their facilities"
- Creates enforcement mechanism: 2025 amendments allow individuals to file lawsuits against departments that violate the Trust Act
- Expands coverage: Now includes juvenile probation officers, Board of Pardons and Paroles, and state prosecutors
- Response to community harm: Created after the "Danbury 11" incident where day laborers were arrested in an undercover sting, leading to a $650,000 settlement
- Bipartisan origin: Original 2013 law passed unanimously in both chambers
- Keeps focus on local priorities: Ensures local law enforcement resources are focused on local crimes, not federal immigration enforcement
- Protects public safety through trust: Encourages immigrants to cooperate with police as victims and witnesses of crimes
Key Quote
"The federal government can't come into Connecticut and commandeer state resources, state law enforcement, to do their job for them." — Attorney General William Tong