ICE conducted a multi-day immigration enforcement surge across Danbury, Connecticut in late August 2026, detaining dozens of people including parents at school bus stops on the first day of school, and workers at daycares, churches, grocery stores and day-laborer sites. Advocacy groups including Danbury Unites for Immigrants and CT Students for a Dream reported the operation expanded across Bridgeport, Stamford, Hamden, Hartford and Redding, with statewide estimates ranging from roughly 94 to as high as 370 detentions, some transferred as far as Colorado. Witnesses and activists described aggressive tactics including agents using chains instead of handcuffs, tackling people in the street, pepper-spraying and striking legal observers with vehicles, and detaining bystanders without valid targets; only 11% of those arrested on the ground in July had a pending or existing criminal charge. Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves, whose parents brought him to the U.S. undocumented from Brazil, said 'no child should carry that kind of fear' and accused ICE of racial profiling. Gov. Ned Lamont, Rep. Jahana Hayes, and Sen. Chris Murphy held a press conference condemning the arrests, with Murphy noting agents 'waited until the kids were on the bus' so children would be dropped off alone and scared. Local businesses reported major drops in customers, and residents formed patrols to track ICE vehicles and warn the community.