‘Neo-Nazis’ Hold Rally After Green Card Police Officers Approved - Newsweek
A Connecticut lawmaker said a demonstration by masked individuals carrying a "Keep New England White" banner in Danbury was intended to "intimidate people" and make residents question whether they belong in the community.
Raghib Allie-Brennan, the Democratic state representative for Bethel and parts of Danbury, told Newsweek the demonstration should be taken seriously because participants "concealed their identities" while displaying a message designed to "intimidate people and make some of our neighbors question whether they belong here."
Video shared online showed masked individuals from the Northeast Action group carrying the banner outside Danbury Police Headquarters on Saturday night. Some participants from the group, designated by the Counter Extremism Project as "neo-Nazi," appeared to make outstretched-arm salutes while chanting "White power."
Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves later condemned "hate, racism, and white supremacy," writing on Facebook that "white supremacy is not welcome here. Racism is not welcome here. Hate is not welcome here."
In a post on their Telegram channel, Northeast Action explained the reason for the protest: “Northeast Action demonstrates in Danbury, Connecticut where nearly half of the population is Hispanic, many of them illegal, as well as the Mayor of the city who claims he was, ‘undocumented.’ The City Council also voted to allow illegal immigrants to become Police officers recently.”
However, there is no evidence that the city voted to allow illegal immigrants to join the police force.
The Danbury City Council approved a measure at a September 2 meeting to change hiring rules to allow lawful permanent residents (green card holders) and DACA recipients to apply to become police officers.
Danbury Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour said the change aligned city rules with existing Connecticut standards and did not alter background checks, training, psychological evaluations or certification requirements.
Ridenhour told the council, "To be clear, this is not asking you to lower our hiring standards. This is simply asking you to align our hiring eligibility with the eligibility requirements set forth by our governing body."
Newsweek reached out to Mayor Alves' office, the Danbury Police Department and Northeast Action via Telegram for comment.
The Northeast Action group has been described by the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) as a “neo-Nazi group” active in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. According to the Counter Extremism Project, the group describes itself as a “pro-white, street-oriented fraternity dedicated to raising and preserving the interests of our people in the Northeast"
The demonstration comes amid heightened debate over immigration in Danbury following recent ICE operations in the city. In a 2026 WalletHub analysis, Danbury was named the seventh most diverse city in the U.S.
City officials began to speak out after the footage of the demostration was shared across social media.
“This city is home to people who came here from across the country and around the world. People of different races, religions, cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. That diversity is not something that divides us. It is part of who we are, and it is one of Danbury’s greatest strengths,” Alves wrote on Facebook.
“White supremacy is not welcome here. Racism is not welcome here. Hate is not welcome here,” he added.
Raghib Allie-Brennan, the Democratic state representative for Bethel and parts of Danbury, also weighed in on the protest.
Allie-Brennan told Newsweek the demonstration should be taken seriously, arguing that people "concealed their identities" while displaying a message explicitly designed to "intimidate people and make some of our neighbors question whether they belong here," adding, "They do."
Allie-Brennan also said preventing similar incidents requires more than a law-enforcement response. "Those of us in public life have a responsibility to pay attention to the rhetoric we use," he said, arguing that language encouraging people to fear neighbors based on where they came from, "what they look like, how they worship, or who they are" can contribute to hatred becoming more visible.
He said the demonstrators would not define Danbury, describing the city as "a diverse community" whose diversity "is part of its strength."
Alves said in a September 2026 interview with CT Mirror that he was "undocumented until his 20s" and spoke publicly about growing up with fears of deportation. Alves obtained U.S. citizenship in 2017.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Sam Wilson.
