A Danbury city council member issued a warning after the body voted 18-2 to allow certain non-citizens to serve as police officers.
According to the Hartford Courant, the council members said they voted to allow DACA recipients and lawful permanent residents to serve as police officers to serve as a message to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after the agency arrested individuals in their Connecticut community.
“Last night, at the end of a frightening week for our immigrant community, the Danbury City Council sent a clear message: immigrants are welcome in Danbury,” Democrat city council member Joe Britton said in a September 2 social media post.
“By an 18–2 vote, we passed an ordinance allowing lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients to apply to become Danbury police officers. The standards do not change. Same rigorous background check. Same training. Same qualifications. Same oath to protect and serve,” he claimed.
“In the Army, I learned quickly your background doesn’t matter when you put on the uniform. Same team. Same mission. I believe the same applies to our police.
After a week of aggressive federal immigration enforcement that has left families across our region fearful, this vote mattered. I’m disappointed that two Republican members voted against it. But I’m proud that 18 of us stood together and said yes,” he added. “If you’re qualified and willing to raise your hand to serve Danbury, you deserve that opportunity. That’s the Danbury I’m proud to represent.”
However, Republican Danbury City Council member Candace Fay told Fox & Friends First that this is nothing more than an act of virtue-signaling that is dividing the city.
“There’s no public policy reason behind what the council did. There’s no overarching need for police officers in our city,” she said. “There’s no demand that this will meet. It was done simply as a political narrative, overwhelmingly done by virtue signaling, and it’s further dividing our city.”
She argued that she simply wanted an objective standard for this: That someone be a citizen.
“That’s it,” she said.
Notably, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has also protested the actions of ICE in Danbury.
The Department of Homeland Security has detailed some of its recent arrests, including Danbury’s Fabricio Garces-Bedoya, a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador. He has been convicted for “two counts of distribution of a controlled substance and importation of heroin.”
Ultimately, dozens were arrested as a result of ICE operations in the area.
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