Residents packed an ACLU of Connecticut town hall Wednesday night at the Greenwich YWCA. The forum was part of the nonprofit organization’s statewide outreach effort to discuss what it calls “attacks on civil liberties” under a new Trump Administration.
A panel discussed how federal policy changes may affect the individual rights of Connecticut residents.
Greenwich resident Fred Li, was among those who attended the town hall. Li said President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn birthright citizenship feels like a personal attack.
“If that goes away, then it feels like I would be erased,” Li said.
Li’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from China before he was born. He says his U.S. citizenship, like millions of others, happened by chance.
Li and other town hall attendees said they felt comforted by the event, even as they acknowledged a good amount of their fellow residents support Trump’s agenda.
The ACLU’s town hall also covered its recent actions, from suing to protect gender affirming care for a trans inmate in a state prison, to advocating for wider access to absentee ballot voting.
While the organization pointed to those previous acts as victories, ACLU of Connecticut Executive Director, David McGuire, said the events are an opportunity for residents to build community with each other. The ACLU is also looking for donations to further their advocacy campaigns.
“We need seven figure campaigns and strategic investments in order to advance our work,” McGuire said.
Some Greenwich residents like Janet McMahon, a member of the Representative Town Meeting, Greenwich’s local legislature, say they are not rich, but still plan to support the ACLU financially.
“Even though we've got that stereotype, it's very diverse,” McMahon said. “My kids go to public schools. There are two, possibly three Title One schools in our district, and so we're not all rich, we're not all white. I mean, granted, tonight, maybe.”
While many residents asked how to protect their neighbors who could be undocumented, Li said he felt that on a personal level.
His parents came to the United States to attend college during the Chinese Civil War. China’s communist insurgency won the war, and suddenly, his parents didn’t feel comfortable going back.
Li was born in 1953, more than a decade before the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 liberalized immigration quotas based on race.
They were lucky; the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was repealed during World War II, albeit with strict yearly quotas, according to the U.S. National Archives. China at the time, was governed by a pro-U.S. ally.
Li would later grow up to be an engineer. His children would go on to attend Greenwich High School. One of their classmates, he said, would be future Republican Rep. Ryan Fazio.
A few weeks ago, Fazio introduced a bill that, if passed, would repeal the state’s Trust Act, limiting cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement authorities such as ICE.
Li is optimistic residents can advocate for their causes using their shared humanity. But he noted the country’s past Xenophobia, and wondered if future generations could enjoy the benefits of birthright citizenship, as he did.
“We just seem to be repeating history again,” Li said.
