With the special legislative session completed in November 2025, GHIAA and our allies have some big wins to celebrate!

WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED

We had some really important wins! Several important pieces of legislation were considered in the special session and eventually passed by both chambers and signed by the governor. Relevant to GHIAA’s issue slate are the following:

• Courthouse Protections: HB 8004 bars law enforcement from conducting civil arrests without a judicial warrant in state courthouses or on courthouse grounds, and prohibits agents from wearing masks while conducting their duties at courthouses unless medically necessary. This safeguards access to due process in the justice system for all of us, and in particular for our immigrant community members.
• Data Protections: HB 8004 also prohibits all public agencies and officials from sharing people’s personal information unless specifically required by law. This protects every one of us who has shared our information with the state in good faith, and particularly our immigrant community members, including tens of thousands of families who participate in Husky 4 Immigrants, hold drive-only licenses, enroll in school, etc.
• Federal Response Fund: HB 8003 allocates $500M from the state budget surplus to make up for loss of federal funds for SNAP, WIC, LIHEAP, health care, school meals, child care assistance, or housing assistance. These funds are available from now through Feb. 4, 2026, when the spring legislative session begins, and their spending is directed by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management.
• Housing Affordability: HB 8002 accomplishes a variety of important steps toward the creation of affordable housing and support for people experiencing homelessness. GHIAA was not working directly on this bill, but it is certainly aligned with our values and priorities around housing affordability. For more details, check out this summary from our friends at the Partnership from Strong Communities.

While there is more to be done, these victories are highly significant and worthy of celebration.

HOW WE GOT THERE

GHIAA has been working closely with allies from CT For All, Hartford Deportation Defense, Make The Road CT, CT Students for a Dream, HUSKY 4 Immigrants, SEIU 1199, SEIU 32BJ, ACLU CT, and others. Through these collaborative relationships, we developed a unified set of policy priorities and a coordinated strategy, including the following key actions GHIAA undertook this summer and fall:

• Immigrant Solidarity Vigil in Newington, August 27
• Sign-on letter with 90+ CT organizations, September 3
• Thousands of phone calls and emails to state elected officials, September-October
• Press conference with CT For All, October 1
• Meetings with staff in the Office of the Governor, October-November
• Love Thy Immigrant Neighbor vigil, march, and rally, October 6
• Postcard delivery to Gov. Lamont with CT Students for a Dream and others, October 21
• Stop Hanging Immigrants Out To Dry pop-up visibility action, October 27-31 (and in Stamford and Norwalk the following week)
• Catching the governor outside an event to ask off-script questions about our priorities, November 1
• Organizing with state representatives to urge leadership to prioritize immigrant protections, early November
• Hundreds of calls and emails to elected officials on the eve of special session, November 10-11
• Visibility days during special session, November 12-13

It was the cumulative impact of sustained, strategic, creative organizing and advocacy that made these wins possible. They absolutely would not have happened without the collective effort that GHIAA and our allies put forth. Thank you to all who came together and built our collective power to make this happen.

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

There is more to be done, as always, in our ongoing fight for justice. Here are a few items that are on our radar for the coming months:

• Federal Response Fund: making sure that the $500M that has been set aside is actually spent before the deadline to alleviate the pain CT residents are already feeling from the federal cuts.
• Remote Hearings: allowing people to participate in court appearances remotely, as was done during the pandemic, so that immigrants can remain in a safe location while they show up for court.
• Protecting Immigrant Health Care: ensuring that no one in CT loses health coverage, regardless of immigration status.
• State and Local Resources: prohibiting the CT National Guard and other state/local resources from being used for federal immigration enforcement purposes.
• Additional priorities will be developed based on the ongoing work of our GHIAA issue teams.