New Haven Independent

The raid took place June 7. It began as a city inspector’s visit to an Elm Street house where undocumented workers were crowded in dangerous living conditions. When the landlord showed up, and a cop was called, the visit turned into a raid on the tenants themselves. The officer demanded to see the tenants’ legal papers. Some fled out a back door with their belongings (top photo). A graduate student on hand had a video camera rolling; that appeared to put the officer on the spot. Click here to read an eyewitness account of the raid by reporter Tess Wheelwright.

The raid unsettled not just the immigrant tenants but immigrant rights activists as well. That’s because Mayor DeStefano and Police Chief Francisco Ortiz had previously pledged, publicly, not to have cops review immigrants’ legal papers, inquire into their status, or turn information over to federal immigration authorities. They made that promise to allay fears among the city’s fast-growing immigrant population, Latin Americans. Undocumented workers are hesitant to contact the police when they are robbed or otherwise victimized by crime, because they worry that police will report them to the feds. That has made them particularly vulnerable to muggers and rip-off artists.

Chief Ortiz has repeatedly refused to comment on the June 7 raid or on what the city police’s policy actually is.

Asked about the incident and policy last week, DeStefano said he hadn’t heard about the raid. He promised to look into it.

He did, and offered a response in an interview Wednesday.

His original promise to immigrants stands, he said. Reporting illegal immigrants to the feds would be “counterproductive to an effective community policing program,” DeStefano said.

“Our policy is perhaps not as well as articulated as it needs to be,” he said. “Our personnel are not as trained as they should be.

“Our policy is these [cases of illegal entry into the country] are civil violations. They’re not criminal violations. These civil violations are not something we have a responsibility or an intention to report to federal authorities. Clearly we need it be a written policy. We need to train to it.”

He said the city will start working on that written policy, making sure it “has a firm foundation in law.”

As mayor and as a gubernatorial candidate, DeStefano has made sometimes passionate remarks in defense of immigrant rights.

Kica Matos of Junta For Progressive Action applauded the mayor’s remarks Wednesday.

“I’m heartened to hear that this policy is finally going to take effect,” she said. “Anything short of a policy of non-enforcement of civil immigration violations would be inconsistent with New Haven’s community policing.”

Matos, who has researched the issue, said 92 police departments across the country have spoken out against enforcing federal civil immigration laws. She said 68 municipal and state government entities have enacted formal policies to that effect. Costa Mesa, Cal., deputized its cops to hound immigrants.