Border Patrol agents at New Haven's Union Station raise immigration fears
NEW HAVEN — The presence of Custom and Border Patrol agents at Union Station Wednesday sent a scare through the immigrant community.
Representatives of advocacy groups started showing up around 5 p.m. at the train station when some passengers tweeted about the seven CBP personnel who were there.
New Haven has been preparing for the posibility of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in light of stepped-up action against undocumented immigrants by the Trump administration.
It turns out they are part of a regular patrol by various government security departments who routinely come together at rail stations and ports of entry throughout the country.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were at New Haven’s Union Station working alongside TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) and local law enforcement agencies, as we regularly do, to conduct screening for radioactive material at train stations and ferry stations. The screening results were negative,” Stephanie Malin, a spokesperson for CSP, said in an email.
Whether this was routine or the result of some unknown material at the station wasn’t immediately clear.
Doug Hausladen, who heads the city’s Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, as well as Park New Haven, said Union Station staff told him they were conducting what is known as a “Viper sting.”
“That includes Border Patrol and Customs, state police and National Guard. This is something they have done in the past usually on Wednesday and/or holiday season. They come to the station with about 10 to 15 guys and add an extra police presence,” Hausladen said.
Advocates from Unidad Latina en Accion, the Yale Law School Workers and Immigrants Rights Clinic and Junta for Progressive Action all sent personnel to monitor the situation until they left before 6 p.m.
More than 30 undocumented immigrants were caught up in raids in New Haven in 2007. Across the country, nearly 700 have been arrested in the past several weeks.
An adult probation officer working in the Hill section earlier in the day also set off false rumors that ICE was in that neighborhood, according to police.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.