Students & Locals Rally on Campus After Two ICE Arrests in Middletown

A crowd of roughly 50 students and Middletown residents gathered outside of Usdan University Center on Monday, April 6 to protest the detainments of a Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) student and a man from Middletown by federal immigration authorities in Middletown last Tuesday. Organized by the student-led ICE OUT Coalition, the demonstration was timed to coincide with a flagship rally held at SCSU.

The rally followed an uptick in federal immigration enforcement presence in Middletown; two individuals, including the SCSU student, were detained in separate operations on Tuesday, March 31, marking the largest reported wave of enforcement in the city in almost a year. 

In one of the detainments, a male driver was surrounded by four vehicles at the corner of Court St. and Main St. at 11:40 a.m. Onlookers photographed him being led, in handcuffs, into a black Dodge Charger with a Connecticut license plate by two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. At least one of the agents wore a vest identifying them as working for ICE.

In the second detainment, according to local activists and news outlets, an SCSU student identified as Keyla Vazquez-Zuniga was arrested while leaving the State of Connecticut Superior Court, just one block east of the first detainment. According to NBC Connecticut, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that Vasquez-Zuniga had been detained. The Argus could not independently confirm that the student was arrested at the courthouse. 

SCSU confirmed in a statement released that Tuesday afternoon to their student body that a student had been detained by ICE, but refrained from identifying them. The statement was penned by interim university president Sandy Bulmer.

“We understand that this situation may cause concern for students, faculty, staff, and families,” the statement read. “Our priority remains the safety, well-being, and dignity of everyone at Southern. We are committed to supporting anyone affected and making sure our campus remains a safe and welcoming place for all.”

At the University’s rally outside Usdan, speakers led the audience through a series of chants, including “ICE out now,” “The people united will never be defeated,” and “Money for jobs and education, not for mass deportation.” 

Middlesex Indivisible board member Ed McKeon, who was a primary organizer of Middletown’s third “No Kings” protest, read a list of the detainees who died in ICE custody in 2025. State Senator Matt Lesser ’10 and Ruth Fortune, a U.S. House candidate challenging incumbent Representative John Larson, also addressed the crowd, urging attendees to vote in the upcoming midterm elections. 

Talia Alperin ’27 spoke to the crowd on behalf of the ICE OUT Coalition. 

“When we fight together, we win together,” Alperin said.

Several Middletown residents brought signs decrying racism and advocating for the abolition of ICE.

Susan Glass, an organizer for Middlesex Indivisible, said that the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda has cast aside foundational values of human rights and due process. 

“There is a deliberate effort by the current regime to turn places of justice into places of fear,” Glass said. “They’re willing to detain anyone who does not fit into their narrow vision of what America should look like, sound like, or behave: anyone who does not match the stereotypical white, Christian, English-speaking ideal.”

Trevor Brooks ’27 attended the University’s rally after hearing about the detainment through members of the ICE OUT Coalition.

“I was horrified,” Brooks said. “You don’t expect something like this to happen here. And a way to respond that feels real is to come together and mourn.”

According to the Connecticut Mirror, the SCSU rally drew a crowd of over 100. The rally was organized, in part, by the SCSU College Democrats. The group also released a statement on their Instagram account the day after the detainments, condemning the action and advocating for political accountability.

“No student at SCSU should have to fear detention while navigating the legal system and exercising their right to due process,” club president Cynthia Sanchez wrote. “This is not only unjust but it is unconstitutional in the most un-American way.”

There have been no reports of ICE activity on SCSU or Wesleyan’s campus, but University President Michael Roth ’78 has indicated that Public Safety has prepared for a federal immigration enforcement operation on campus.

Aarushi Bahadur can be reached at abahadur@wesleyan.edu.

Miles Pinsof-Berlowitz can be reached at mpinsofberlo@wesleyan.edu.