Several hundred people attended the latest local Rock This Democracy vigil, held on Saturday, April 19, which concluded with attendees marching around the Main Street Flagpole with signs and candles.

Organized in collaboration with 50501, Newtown Action Alliance, Indivisible, Junior Newtown Action Alliance, and others, the goal of the vigil was to protest the “disappearance and imprisonment of at least two innocent men into El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison by the Trump administration,” event organizers said in a pre-event press release.

The two men in question are Andry José Hernández Romero, a 31-year-old gay Venezuelan makeup artist who was deported without due process, and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Maryland father who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration reportedly due to an administrative error.

Newtown residents and others from surrounding areas lined the sidewalks on both sides of Main Street, many holding signs bearing statements such as “Due Process for All!” or “Bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia Home.” Signs that read “#BringAndryHome” and “#BringKilmarHome,” with each of the men’s respective faces on them, were stacked onto the ground for people to take as they arrived.

Event organizers said they worked in advance with Newtown Police Department to make sure people were safe during the event.

Opening Remarks

The vigil started with event organizer Jim Allen speaking. Taking to a temporary stage in front of Newtown Meeting House, Allen said he and others were meeting that night beneath the stars and stripes of Main Street’s Flagpole and surrounding crossroad because America itself “is at a perilous crossroad.”

Allen said America is “in a constitutional crisis triggered by the authoritarian tactics” of President Donald Trump. Allen noted the Trump administration’s defiance of court order and a recent 9-0 ruling from the US Supreme Court, in which the justices said the United States must “take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States as soon as possible.”

He called the actions of Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others a “violation of the Fifth Amendment, a betrayal of the rule of law, a threat to all Americans, and an attack on the Constitution.

“It is no overstatement to describe the threat to America and the Constitution in these terms,” Allen continued. “As long as this threat continues, we will be proactive in confronting it by exercising our right to assembly, free speech, and, if need be, with non-violent civil disobedience in the days soon ahead.”

Fellow event organizer Alex Villamil took the microphone next and said the detainment and incarceration of Hernández Romero and Garcia happened because due process was ignored.

Villamil said that no matter anyone’s political affiliation — Democrat, Republican, independent, or unaffiliated — they should all agree that the American justice system is built on the principle that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and entitled to due process.

“To seize people without charges, without a warrant, to imprison them and to deport them like criminals ... without a single chance to defend themselves is not justice; it’s tyranny,” Villamil said.

As for how to fight back, Villamil said the vigil attendees can unite, organize, and speak out for democracy and for those whose voices have been silenced. He noted the postwar statement “First They Came” by Pastor Martin Niemöller, an indictment of indifference and silent complicity towards Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

Villamil said Trump is now floating the idea of sending American citizens to prisons abroad if he deems them violent.

“If we allow this to happen to the most vulnerable,” Villamil said, “what’s stopping this from happening to any one of us who speaks out against him?”

On Supporting Immigrants

The next to speak was Juan Fonseca Tapia, an immigrant from Mexico and organizer for Greater Danbury Area Unites for Immigrants, who led everyone in chanting, “Say it louder say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.”

He said terrible things are happening, that helpless people are being driven out of their homes, families are being torn apart, and children are coming home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Fonseca Tapia called this a “very telling description” of what they’re seeing right now.

He called to mind the words of Anne Frank and said that, “The question is not when; the question is about what? What are we going to do? Because fascism is here.”

Fonseca Tapia continued by saying immigrant communities, families, and children are under attack, and that people in Danbury have disappeared. While they know the stories of those on the news, he said there are more they don’t know about, wondering who will be deported without due process next if they don’t fight back.

“You might not be an immigrant, but I need you to understand that my liberation is connected to yours. My rights are connected with yours. And if today they are targeting me, let there be no doubt that tomorrow it could be you,” Fonseca Tapia said.

As angry as Fonseca Tapia said he was at seeing his community get dehumanized, demonized, and used as a scapegoat for the failures of society, he added that he will not stop fighting. He encouraged everyone to stand with him and said politicians will not save them, but community will.

“If we want to think about a future for our communities, our families, and our children, we have to act now,” Fonseca Tapia said. “We must choose love over hate.”

Concerns About Due Process

Selectman Michelle Embree Ku thanked those who attended the latest rally. Saturday’s was the fourth Rock This Democracy event in Newtown.

Allen, Villamil and Reverend Matt Crebbin launched the events February 22 at Edmond Town Hall. A follow-up dialogue was conducted in mid-March, also at the town hall building. Hundreds then attended Rock This Democracy: Hands Off!, a rally and march on April 5 that started at The Pleasance and concluded with a march to the Main Street flagpole.

Embree Ku said the rallies will not go away until the rule of law, fairness, liberty, and pursuit of justice are back. She said it is only 90 days into a four-year term and the threat to humanity continues from the government ignoring due process.

“Truth comes from access to due process. It comes from the chance to defend oneself in the court of law. If we allow the Constitutional rights of one man or 30 men to be denied, we are giving permission to deny us all,” Embree Ku said.

Newtown Action Alliance Co-Founder and Chairwoman Po Murray noted Saturday marked 250 years since the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. She said that centuries later, the country is facing another authoritarian threat, adding that Trump must follow the Constitution, the rule of law, and due process.

As she spoke, young people associated with Newtown Action Alliance passed out action cards that encouraged people to call their representatives and senators and provided contact information for virtual lobby sessions, protests, social media, and more.

“We will call our lawmakers. We will organize. We will show up for our neighbors, but above all, we must keep coming back,” Murray said.

Event organizer Matt Crebbin spoke last, saying that their voices will be heard and that they will continue to stand up for due process and speak out of love for their nation.

“Do not let others try and steal your patriotism. Everyone here gathered ... because you believe in our nation, even when it fails to believe in itself,” Crebbin said.

The event ended with everyone holding signs and lit candles provided by Newtown Action Alliance as they walked along the crosswalk of Main Street.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.