Immigration advocates and family rallied for a New Haven mother who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officers in front of her children on Monday.
The rally drew a crowd outside the federal building on Orange Street. Monse, the 13-year-old daughter of the woman who was detained, spoke about the arrest.
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WATCH HERE"You don't know the pain you're putting families through," she said. "I hope you generally consider what you're doing to my family because staying up at night hoping to get a call or thinking about my mom hurts me so much. It hurts me deeply."
The mother was taken into custody after ICE officers allegedly blocked her car in. Her 13-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son were in the car and were left in a family member's care when the mother was taken.
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SIGN UP New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said the mother had a court appearance for breach of peace and third-degree assault charges.
Immigration advocates rallied around the daughter as she struggled to speak at the rally.
“Having witnessed her mother be kidnapped and snatched away in the morning, she's feeling deep trauma. The little boy, the little boy, he was crying and asking for his mother," Kica Matos, with the National Immigration Law Center, said.
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Protesters also called for the return of a Meriden high school senior who was detained just days before his graduation.
Ella Rossi sat next to his empty chair at the graduation ceremony Tuesday night.
“Having that empty chair at graduation was just a terrible reminder of what’s going on in our country right now and what’s going on in our own school system and to our youth," she said.
Meriden's and New Haven’s mayors have said they stand with these families, promising to do what they can to help.
“We are a city that welcomes everyone who wants to be a productive member of our community," New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said.
Elicker said the city will use its legal resources to try to bring the mother back to Connecticut.
