A Democrat-controlled city council in Connecticut voted overwhelmingly to let non-citizen legal residents and DACA recipients serve as police officers, a move one council member openly tied to federal immigration enforcement he called a "federal invasion."
Danbury's City Council approved the ordinance change 18-2, with 17 Democrats and one Republican voting yes and two Republicans opposed. The amendment allows lawful permanent residents and recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to apply for positions with the Danbury Police Department, a shift that came after a week of ICE raids in the area that produced more than 60 arrests, Fox News Digital reported.
Council member Joe Britton, a Democrat, did not hide the timing. He told colleagues the vote "sends a message to our immigrant community at large that you are welcome in Danbury" and described ICE operations in the city as "frightening."
Britton went further, framing the federal enforcement action in language usually reserved for hostile foreign powers:
"Though this definitely wasn't planned to be on the agenda on the end of a federal invasion of immigration officials in Danbury... I do think it's timely."
He added a warning to the two dissenters: "There is no reason to vote against this, and if you do vote against this, I truly question your moral compass."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Britton insisted the ordinance change "does not lower Danbury's standards for becoming a police officer." He said it "simply allows otherwise qualified lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients to apply and compete for these positions" and that every applicant must still meet the same training, background, character, and certification requirements as any other officer.
City spokesperson Taylor O'Brien echoed that framing, telling Fox News Digital the council "amended its ordinance in accordance with Connecticut's Police Officer Standards and Training Council." She said more than 30 municipalities in Connecticut and several states already follow the same standard.
O'Brien added that the change "opens Danbury's applicant pool to otherwise qualified candidates, including legal Danbury residents, who are currently applying to be police officers in other communities." She attributed to Mayor Roberto Alves the assurance that the amendment "ensures Danbury maintains a rigorous hiring process for our Police Officers."
The legal foundation dates to 2020, when Connecticut's Police Officer Standards and Training Council partially waived its citizenship requirement, extending eligibility to lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients. Danbury's council acted within that state-level framework.
But the council members themselves made clear this was not a routine staffing decision. Britton called the ICE operations an "invasion." The vote landed days after a large political rally. And the 18-2 margin suggests the council treated it less as a policy debate than as a political statement directed at federal authorities.
On August 26, 2026, days before the council vote, Mayor Alves appeared at Kennedy Park in Danbury alongside Governor Ned Lamont, U.S. Congresswoman Jahana Hayes, and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy for a rally condemning ICE operations in the city. Alves told the crowd that "everyone has constitutional rights in this country, regardless of immigration status" and encouraged activists to record officers from a safe distance.
Alves, a Democrat who came to the United States as an illegal immigrant as a child and gained citizenship in 2017, told the Danbury News Times he was "glad the City Council approved" the measure. He said "the standards are not being lowered" and that "every applicant still has to meet the same rigorous background, training, fitness and professional standards required of any Danbury police officer."
Alves framed the decision as a recruitment tool:
"What we are doing is giving qualified people an opportunity to compete for the job. For a diverse city like Danbury, it strengthens our recruitment pool and gives us another opportunity to hire talented people who understand and care about the community they want to serve."
The Danbury vote arrives against a backdrop that should give any city council pause. Federal agents have already arrested at least two individuals who were serving as police officers while in the country illegally, cases that raise pointed questions about vetting and accountability in departments that employ non-citizens.
On July 25, 2025, ICE arrested Jon Luke Evans, a Jamaican national working as a reserve officer with the Old Orchard Beach, Maine, Police Department. Evans faced charges related to unlawfully attempting to purchase a gun, a federal crime that, by definition, means his department either failed to detect his immigration status or did not check.
Months later, on October 15, ICE arrested Radule Bojovic, from Montenegro, during an operation called Midway Blitz. Bojovic had been serving as a police officer with the Hanover Park, Illinois, Police Department. Both men were accused of being in the United States illegally while carrying a badge.
Neither case involved a lawful permanent resident or DACA recipient, both men were allegedly in the country without authorization. Danbury officials drew a distinction between those cases and their ordinance, which limits eligibility to legal residents. But the Evans and Bojovic arrests demonstrate a real-world failure mode: local departments hiring non-citizens without adequate verification of their legal status.
ICE operations in the Danbury area produced more than 60 arrests, according to local reports cited by Fox News Digital. Trump border czar Tom Homan described the targets of such operations plainly: "We're out there to look for illegal aliens with final orders of removal, those who overstay, those who are criminals, and we're out there looking for them and arresting them."
Danbury's elected leaders responded not by cooperating with federal enforcement but by positioning the city as a counterweight to it. The rally at Kennedy Park featured a governor, a senator, and a congresswoman standing alongside the mayor to condemn the arrests. Days later, the council voted to open the police force to non-citizens, and one of the measure's loudest champions described the timing as a deliberate message.
Britton told Fox News Digital that "Danbury is an immigrant city" and that "someone who is lawfully here, committed to our community, and willing to raise their hand and take an oath to protect and serve should have the opportunity to do so." He described the change as expanding the applicant pool "while maintaining the same high standards our residents expect from their police department."
Whether the standards hold in practice is an open question. The Evans and Bojovic cases show what happens when departments get it wrong. Danbury's council voted 18-2 that the risk is worth taking. The two Republicans who voted no were told, in public, that their "moral compass" was in question for disagreeing.
When a city council treats a staffing ordinance as a political weapon against federal law enforcement, and frames dissent as a moral failing, the question is no longer about hiring standards. It is about who the city's leaders believe they answer to: their own residents, or the political movement that wants immigration enforcement to fail.
