CT Judicial Branch Launches Remote Hearings Page for Immigrants

Connecticut’s Judicial Branch quietly launched a new webpage Friday that lets residents find information about and request remote court hearings, a move that comes directly from mounting pressure over immigration arrests at courthouses across the state.

The page went live amid growing fear among immigrant communities that showing up to court means risking detention by federal agents. Attorney Stephen N. Ment, executive director of the branch’s External Affairs Division, said in a statement that the goal is to expand access to justice for everyone the Judicial Branch serves, including people with mobility or transportation issues.

What the page actually does

The new remote events webpage consolidates everything in one place: how to request a remote hearing, how to join a virtual meeting, reference guides, and a link to download Microsoft Teams. Requests are available for family, civil, criminal, and juvenile court cases. You need a device that supports Teams. The court then decides whether to approve.

Not a guarantee. But it’s something.

The launch follows calls from advocates and lawmakers who spent months pushing the branch to act. A group of 21 state senators sent a letter to Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Raheem Mullins last year urging the adoption of protocols to safeguard vulnerable people. The next day, nearly a hundred Connecticut organizations co-signed a similar letter to Gov. Ned Lamont and congressional leaders demanding action to protect immigrant communities. Both letters called on the branch to provide remote appearances for all court events and ban ICE arrests at courthouses and in transit.

What’s been happening at courthouses

The pressure didn’t come from nowhere. Immigration enforcement took place both inside and outside Connecticut courthouses last summer, and the incidents were deeply unsettling.

In one case, masked federal officers arrested two men inside a state judicial building in Stamford last August. Immigration lawyer Philip Berns described federal agents in Stamford as “basically hiding behind bushes waiting to spring out at people.”

That image, of plainclothes agents crouching outside a state courthouse, captures exactly why some people have stopped showing up to their own court dates. Missing a hearing can mean a bench warrant. A bench warrant can mean arrest. The cycle is brutal, and it disproportionately hits communities that already have the least room for error.

Mullins responded to the pressure in September, issuing a policy that bans officers from wearing face coverings in court without prior approval unless they have a medical need. The policy also requires a judicial warrant for most immigration enforcement activity on court grounds. Still, advocates wanted more.

Democrats praise the move

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff issued a joint statement applauding the branch’s action. Their words were notably direct.

“Government gets criticized for bureaucratic delay, but in this case, the Connecticut Judicial Branch listened to our concerns about people missing court appearances because they are terrified of ICE and they didn’t wait for the General Assembly to pass a law to make its proceedings more accessible for all Connecticut residents, including those living in fear of the Trump regime’s lawless immigration forces,” Looney and Duff said.

That framing, crediting the branch for acting without waiting on legislation, signals that the General Assembly may still pursue a statutory fix but is happy to take the win for now.

Why this matters beyond immigration

It’s worth keeping in mind that remote hearings have broader applications. For anyone in Fairfield County spending two hours on Metro-North, taking a half-day off work to sit in a courthouse waiting room is a real cost. The new page addresses that too. Ment specifically cited people with mobility and transportation issues, and the infrastructure being built here, Teams integration, standardized request forms, could serve a much wider population than the one driving today’s headlines.

The American Immigration Council has documented how courthouse arrests create a chilling effect that extends well beyond the individuals detained, discouraging witnesses, victims, and defendants from engaging with the legal system at all. Connecticut’s move to expand remote access chips away at that problem, even if it doesn’t eliminate it.

Reporting by CT Mirror first detailed the new webpage and the statements from Senate Democratic leaders.

Watch for whether the General Assembly takes up formal legislation codifying remote hearing rights this session. Looney and Duff’s statement suggests they’d welcome it, but the branch’s independent action may reduce urgency. For now, anyone with a pending court matter can find the new remote hearing resources on the Judicial Branch website.