HARTFORD — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced Tuesday he’s launching an investigation into what he called “abusive” practices by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Connecticut and elsewhere across the country.

“We’ve seen numbers of reports of excessive use of force, detention of United States citizens and other really abusive, illegal tactics by ICE,” the Democratic senator said in front of the federal building in downtown Hartford that houses ICE’s Connecticut field office. “These reports … are deeply troubling.”

The White House referred CT Insider’s request for comment to ICE, which did not comment.

Blumenthal said the investigation will run through the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, of which he is the most senior Democratic member. The subcommittee is part of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, which has oversight of ICE and other agencies in the Department of Homeland Security.

Blumenthal sent a letter Tuesday to Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, requesting information that included the agency’s policies around use of force and the identification and detention of U.S. citizens. Blumenthal also requested information on any incentives ICE agents may receive for making arrests and a list of all U.S. citizens detained by the agency since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 21.

In addition, the letter asked for specific information about ICE’s decision on Aug. 16 to repost a post on the social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, by the influential right-wing account Libs of TikTok that called for state Rep. Corey Paris, D-Stamford, to be criminally charged for “helping illegals evade arrest and impeding ICE.” Paris said he has since received death threats.

Paris drew the ire of Libs of TikTok — and, subsequently, ICE — after he called for people in his district to “remain vigilant, stay aware of our surroundings and, above all, prioritize your safety” amid a crackdown by ICE agents across Connecticut.

On Tuesday, Blumenthal said he plans to seek support for the investigation from his Senate colleagues once Congress is back from its August recess but did not want to delay launching the investigation after what Paris faced.

“I wanted to stand with Corey Paris in sending this letter,” Blumenthal said.

Speaking after the senator, Paris said dissent is an integral part of democracy.

“The attacks against elected officials, against immigrant families, against those who speak out simply for having a difference of opinion … they are a coordinated effort that will ramp up more and more over the next few years,” Paris warned. “We must remain completely solid in our quest to make sure that people have their right to … speak out without there being fear of harm or fear of retribution.”

A handful of Paris’ fellow state lawmakers who had come to support their colleague applauded after he and Blumenthal spoke.

It’s not the first time the Trump administration has publicly threatened to charge a Democratic lawmaker. In February, border czar Tom Homan said he was “working with the Department of Justice” to see if U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — often referred to by her initials, AOC — broke the law by putting out information for immigrants on their legal rights when they interact with ICE.

“It’s like AOC and others don’t want ICE to enforce the law that they enacted,” Homen said later.

Blumenthal’s letter to ICE did not specifically address conditions in ICE detention facilities. There are no such facilities in Connecticut, but there are temporary holding cells inside ICE’s Hartford office. CT Insider previously reported on one Connecticut man who said he experienced harsh conditions during a night in those holding cells.

Speaking Tuesday, Blumenthal said his investigation would look into such allegations.

“I will look into any reports of inhumane, unacceptable conditions in Connecticut or anywhere else in the country,” Blumenthal said.

News of Blumenthal’s investigation comes as ICE has ramped up arrests across Connecticut. Last week, ICE announced that it — with help from a host of other federal law enforcement agencies — over the course of four days had arrested 65 people it said were in the country illegally.

The agency called the sweep “Operation Broken Trust” and said in a press release it targeted “transnational organized crime, gangs and egregious offenders.” According to the agency, just under half of the immigrants it arrested had been convicted of or charged with serious crimes.

The press release named 13 individuals ICE called “the worst of the worst” it had arrested. However, it did not give names or other details for the other 52 arrestees. CT Insider has filed a public records request for that information. That request is pending.

The White House has pushed for ICE agents to arrest 3,000 immigrants a day — up from an earlier quota of 1,000 daily arrests. A bill signed into law by Trump last month gave ICE $75 billion in new funding to hire agents, expand its detention facilities and carry out deportations — more money than any other federal law enforcement agency.

Speaking after Blumenthal and Paris at Tuesday’s press conference, Tabitha Sookdeo, executive director of the immigrant rights group Connecticut Students for a Dream, said fear of ICE has become so acute in the state’s immigrant communities that some parents are afraid to send their children to school.

Earlier this year, the Connecticut General Assembly expanded the Trust Act, which limits what cooperation state and local law enforcement agencies and certain other officials can provide to federal immigration authorities. However, lawmakers took out provisions in the bill that would have barred arrests by immigration officials at state courthouses and provided data protections after Gov. Ned Lamont threatened a veto.

Sookdeo called Tuesday for state lawmakers to take up those measures again during a potential special session later this year.

“We cannot control everything that happens in Washington,” Sookdeo said. “But we can control what happens in our own back yard.”