Danbury Opens Police Hiring To Green Card Holders And DACA Recipients

Danbury opened its doors to lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients for police hiring after an 18-2 vote by the city council. One member pushed back hard against the shift.

"I don't think it is in any way intended to make our city feel safer," Candace Fay, a Republican on the Danbury City Council, told Todd Piro, co-host of "Fox & Friends First."

"There's no public policy reason behind what the council did," she said. "There's no overarching need for police officers in our city. There's no demand that this will meet. It was done simply as a political narrative, overwhelmingly done by virtue signaling, and it's further dividing our city."

The Danbury City Council amended its police hiring ordinance last week to let green card holders and DACA recipients apply for positions. The move aligns Danbury with Connecticut's Police Officer Standards and Training Council. That council extended eligibility to lawful permanent residents back in 2020 and added DACA recipients in 2025.

Neither the City Council nor Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour answered Fox News requests for comment before Tuesday morning's segment. City records show Ridenhour spoke at an April committee discussion on the issue. He called police recruitment a challenge and said he wants to attract the "best qualified candidates."

Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves, a Democrat, said the measure removes barriers for qualified residents who want to serve their community. "(This) vote was about removing an unnecessary barrier for qualified people who already call Danbury home and want to serve their community," Alves told The Danbury News-Times.

Joe Britton, another Democrat on the council, defended the policy too. "Danbury is an immigrant city and I believe someone who is lawfully here, committed to our community and willing to raise their hand and take an oath to protect and serve should have the opportunity to do so," he said.

Fay argued that U.S. citizenship must stay a requirement for officers who wield arrest powers and use force. "I'm asking for an objective standard. I'm asking that someone be a citizen. That's it," Fay told Piro. "That's not overly egregious. It's not considering where they were born. It's not considering their ethnicity or even whether they're a good person."

"It is a reasonably objective standard whether they should be a citizen in order to be a police officer and enforce the state of Connecticut laws over citizens," she added.

Fay also pushed back against charges of racism surrounding her opposition. She said her stance rests solely on whether officers exercising police powers should hold U.S. citizenship.