CT Police Chiefs React to President Trump's Immigration Executive Orders

The 457 sworn police officers in the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) operate under the general order of not asking about a person’s immigration status, with one exception.

"If we are dealing with someone who has committed a crime then that’s a game changer," Interim NHPD Chief Anthony Campbell said.

In neighboring Hamden, it is the unwritten policy for the town’s 109 police officers to not check the immigration status of witnesses or victims.

"They’re going to be unlikely to report it if they don’t trust their local police," Hamden Police Chief Thomas Wydra said. "If they think their local police are an arm of the federal government."

Both the top cops in New Haven and Hamden told NBC Connecticut in a sit down interview together that it is no the job of their officers to enforce federal immigration law. Asking them to do so, they said, could erode trust between local police and their communities.

President Donald Trump has pledged to crack down on sanctuary cities that shelter undocumented immigrants.

"I think it's ridiculous,"Trump said during the pre-Super Bowl interview on FOX. "Sanctuary cities, as you know I'm very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime, there's a lot of problems. If we have to we'll defund."

New Haven, a designated sanctuary city, has seen a steady decline in crime in recent years, Campbell said.

"When people are afraid to reach out to the law enforcement entity because of their immigrations status," he said. "Then you start seeing crime go up and that’s not what we’re looking to have happen."

Both chiefs referred to the Transparency and Responsibility Using State Tools (TRUST) Act that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2014 for guiding how they detain an undocumented immigrant.

The TRUST Act states: "If United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement fails to take custody of the individual within such 48-hour period, the law enforcement officer shall release the individual."

Wydra said he is looking at the state’s delegation of lawmakers in Washington to make sure federal funding continues to flow into his town and cities across the state.

“We provide a safe place for everybody, right, regardless of immigration status," Wydra said. "Then I accept that."

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