Anti-immigrant Patriot Front signs in Tolland spark police probe

TOLLAND, Connecticut (MNTV) — Signs reading “DEPORT INVADERS” and pointing to the website of the white supremacist group Patriot Front were fixed to utility poles in Tolland, prompting town officials to call in the Connecticut State Police and drawing condemnation from civil rights advocates.

The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the signs fit a familiar method: extremist groups use public propaganda to spread hostility toward immigrants and minorities, and the purpose is not argument but intimidation — making the ideas behind them ordinary through repetition.

CAIR-CT chairman Farhan Memon said the placards were meant to frighten immigrant communities and advance white supremacist ideology, and urged residents across the state to refuse the division they are designed to create.

He credited local officials for acting quickly, and warned that hate propaganda left unchallenged has historically preceded harassment, discrimination, and violence.

That is the through line advocates keep pointing to: material like this shifts what a community treats as acceptable, and answering it takes both police attention and public refusal.

CAIR has condemned Patriot Front activity before — the same group whose masked, flag-carrying column marched through Washington this month — and continues to press for coordinated action against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and antisemitism.

CAIR Connecticut said it remains committed to defending civil rights, building understanding of Islam, and standing with every community facing hate.