Federal immigration agents have been accused of arresting parents near school bus stops in Danbury, Conn., prompting alarm from Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputes the claims.
ICE accused of arresting parents near school bus stops
Danbury officials said eyewitnesses reported ICE agents arresting parents at or near bus stops after children boarded buses.
“This morning in Danbury, ICE was arresting parents at school bus stops,” Murphy wrote on X. “But it’s more sinister. ICE waited until the kids were on the bus so when they are dropped off at the end of the day, they are alone, scared to death they can’t find their parents. I’m heading to Danbury.”
Murphy did not immediately provide evidence that agents deliberately waited for children to board the buses before detaining their parents.
DHS responds
DHS rejected the allegations.
“Any claim that ICE targeted parents at a school bus stop is FALSE,” a department spokesperson said.
“Unsurprisingly, Sen. Murphy’s narrative is a work of fiction aimed at scoring cheap political points at the expense of our officers,” the spokesperson added.
DHS said ICE arrested Leonel Geovanny Morocho-Arteaga, a 28-year-old Ecuadorian national, during a targeted operation on August 26. The agency said he entered the United States illegally and was arrested by Customs and Border Protection in July 2021 before being released.
The department said that Morocho-Arteaga was alone when he was detained and that the vehicle stop “did not take place in the vicinity of a bus stop.” DHS said agents found “a large kitchen knife in the center console” of the car he was driving and that a child somehow related to him “is under the guardianship of her mother.” (It’s unclear if the child cited in the DHS report is Morocho-Arteaga’s daughter or another relative.) He remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Advocacy group fights back
Immigrant advocacy group Greater Danbury Area Unites for Immigrants posted a video apparently recorded inside a school bus during an enforcement operation. The footage appears to show unmarked law-enforcement vehicles traveling through residential streets in Danbury.
Jason Nova, Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves’ deputy chief of staff, said the city received unofficial reports that “50 or more individuals have been detained by ICE in Danbury [in just a week].” Danbury Public Schools worked to ensure children affected by arrests were placed with family members or caregivers.
The advocacy group said ICE arrested 48 people over three days, including 22 on the second day of the school year.
“We have eyewitness accounts of ICE circling around bus stops as kids were getting off the bus home from school. Kids were afraid to get off the bus and to walk home. Families are scared to walk their children to school and are keeping their [kids] home,” the group wrote.
