“They didn’t respect our rights,” Washington Colala said. “They didn’t respect the tears of our children.”
What Immigration and Customs Enforcement did respect was a federal lawsuit.
More than four years after the summer morning when immigration agents swept into their homes and allegedly arrested them illegally, Colala (pictured) and 10 other New Haveners have reached a “landmark” settlement with the government.
The settlement, which has been executed over the past several days but is not yet finalized, states that the government will pay the 11 men $350,000. The agreement also means that the men will avoid deportation.
Colala spoke at a Wednesday morning press event held at the Hill Wilson Branch Library to formally announce the agreement.
The settlement stems from controversial raids by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in Fair Haven in June 2007. Eleven men caught up in that action later sued with the help of student attorneys at Yale law school. They claimed that the ICE agents entered their homes without permission and arrested them illegally, violating their 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendment rights.
The raids came just two days after the city implemented its resident ID card program, and was widely seen as retaliation for that immigrant-friendly policy. Internal emails showed that the feds were working to stop the ID card.
Velasquez with Yale law student and translator Laura Huizar.
Amilcar Soto Velasquez, another plaintiff, recalled the morning when agents knocked on his door. Agents came in and ordered him and his roommates out of their bedrooms, he said. “I didn’t know what was happening. I was very nervous.”
Velasquez said fear still exists among the Latino population in Fair Haven. “I’m here to say people shouldn’t be afraid, they should fight.”
Mark Pedulla, one of the student attorneys working on the case, called the settlement unprecedented. “Our understanding is that this agreement appears to be the largest monetary settlement paid” in a case of this kind. It’s also the first to include to monetary compensation and immigration relief, he said.
In addition to receiving at total of $350,000, the 11 men had the choice of either termination of deportation proceedings or “deferred action status” and a work agreement for four years, meaning that the government will not proceed against the men during that time. Only Colala and one other man selected the latter option.
“Nothing compensates for what we suffered during the period we suffered in prison,” Colala said. After the arrests, 32 people were held — some for weeks — in prison. Yale lawyers worked to locate them and release them from facilities as far away as Maine.
Colala welcomed the settlement. “This is a beautiful dawn after a dark evening.”
Father Manship, flanked by members of St. Rose of Lima.
Father James Manship, head of St. Rose of Lima church in Fair Haven, said the 11 men who settled with the government are “the lucky ones.” Thousands of others are “languishing in prison” because of the government’s “inability to move ahead with comprehensive immigration reform,” he said.
Mike Wishnie (pictured), the head of the law clinic that worked on the case, said the hope is that the settlement will inspire others to challenge ICE and that gradually the agency’s culture will change to prevent unconstitutional actions and practices.
He said the 11 men decided to settle the case rather than keep fighting because “the government met these men’s terms.”
“This is a big deal,” Pedulla said Wednesday. While the settlement does not include an explicit admission of guilt by ICE, it represents a victory for people trying to hold the government accountable, he said.
Ross Feinstein, spokesperson for ICE had this to say about the settlement: “As stated in court documents, this settlement is in no way intended to be, and should not be construed as, an admission of liability or fault on the part of the U.S. government. The government is settling in order to avoid the additional time and expense of further litigation.
“ICE recognizes that enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is a weighty responsibility and we endeavor to do so in a judicious and appropriate manner.”
At 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Mayor John DeStefano released this statement: “Today’s settlement is bigger than a lawsuit. It is about who we are as a nation. Today’s settlement is a victory of law, but the real case yet to be tried is a matter of the character and temperament of this nation as it relates to immigration, and how we as a nation, a state, and a people view our legacy as a nation of immigrants. This case will never truly be won until our nation’s immigration policies live up to the values and aspirations on which our country was founded.”
Four people swept up in the June 2007 raids are still fighting deportation proceedings against them. An immigration judge decided against their claims, but his decision has been overturned. Of the people arrested in the raids, all who have so far chosen to fight the cases against them have won.
