Bridgeport is a sanctuary city under Connecticut's Trust Act, the first state-level sanctuary law in the United States. CGS §54-192h sharply limits when local police may honor federal immigration detainers.
Connecticut enacted the Trust Act in 2013 (Public Act 13-155), making it the first US state to restrict local cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement civil detainers. The law was strengthened in 2019 (PA 19-20). Codified at CGS §54-192h, it forbids state and municipal law-enforcement agencies — including the Bridgeport Police Department — from detaining individuals on ICE detainers unless the subject has a felony conviction, is on a terror watch list, or has a judicial warrant. Bridgeport policy explicitly bars officers from inquiring into immigration status during routine encounters and from sharing arrest information with ICE outside Trust Act exceptions.
An officer who detains someone solely on an ICE administrative detainer outside the statutory exceptions violates CGS §54-192h, exposing the city to civil-rights lawsuits under §1983 and internal discipline.
See how Bridgeport's sanctuary policy preemption rules stack up against other locations.
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