by | Apr 19, 2024 2:16 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photos
Raj Kumar winds up.
Hitesh Redy, with improvised "cricket bat."
Raj Kumar lifted his right arm like a windmill against the backdrop of the former English Station power plant as he “bowled” a tennis ball towards Hitesh Redy — who didn’t need a proper cricket bat to enjoy some time in the park in Fair Haven.
A plank of wood salvaged from their Woolsey Street home would do just fine.
by | Apr 17, 2024 2:07 pm | Comments (7)
Edgar Becerra and Josue Mauricio Arana in court.
Laura Glesby Photo
Edgar Becerra protests his former employer, MDF Painting and Power Washing, before the eviction proceedings.
A judge has ruled that Edgar Becerra and Josue Mauricio Arana must find a new place to live, ending an eviction case that sparked protests over alleged exploitation of migrant workers.
by | Apr 1, 2024 1:15 pm | Comments (5)
Daphne Geismar photo
Feras on the job on Nash Street.
Feras celebrated his first job in the U.S. Monday morning by walking into traffic — and slowing down cars.
by | Mar 27, 2024 3:46 pm | Comments (13)
Paul Bass File Photo
Former IRIS chief Chris George (right): Kamash was "generous, community-minded, kind, law-abiding, and upstanding."
A 33-year-old New Havener and Iraqi refugee named Mohamed Najm Kamash admitted this week to lying about his brothers’ affiliation with a terrorist group during his application for U.S. citizenship, and now faces up to five years in prison for the offense.
Kamash himself had no terrorism involvement — and in fact, court records reveal, he had become a volunteer interpreter and mentor for new arrivals, a “responsible, reliable, friendly” city resident who put down a decade of roots in New Haven’s refugee community.
by | Mar 8, 2024 4:42 pm | Comments (51)
Thomas Breen Photo
Patricia Clark in her office before retiring: “Yelled” at applicants when “she did not believe them.”
“Happy Hunting!” wrote New Haven’s vital statistics chief Patricia Clark to a federal investigator as she reported yet another immigrant getting married in City Hall.
The city released a 41-page investigatory report on Friday finding that Clark committed misconduct by reporting 93 marriage-seeking couples to federal immigration authorities and denying services to constituents arbitrarily.
Meanwhile, officials announced that Clark evaded disciplinary action by retiring in late February, the day she faced a hearing.
Continue reading ‘Probe Reveals Marriage-License Misconduct’
by | Feb 23, 2024 9:43 am | Comments (6)
Laura Glesby Photo
Edgar Becerra protests with ULA outside MDF Painting and Power Washing.
“We have human rights,” Edgar Becerra called into a bullhorn, speaking in Spanish. “We have a heart.”
He was surrounded by over 25 immigrant rights activists outside the Branford headquarters of his Fair Haven landlord and former employer — who brought him to the U.S. as a temporary worker, allegedly fired him for work-related injuries, and is now trying to evict him a second time.
by | Feb 15, 2024 4:22 pm | Comments (18)
Maya McFadden Photo
John C. Daniels newcomers with staff: Rosalyn Díaz-Ortiz, Heather O’Brien, Widny Morel, Marlene Rosario, Kenia Wama Vargas, Iveth Shenoha Quintero Rodriguez, Deam Sebastian Barrozo Garzon, David Santiago Franco Chaparro, and Yesenia Perez.
Forty-five native Spanish speakers have immigrated here and entered seventh and eighth grade at John C. Daniels School just over the past four months — and are getting up to speed fast thanks to a schoolwide effort to focus on language skills as well as family needs.
by | Feb 6, 2024 2:06 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Becerra and Arana: They beat the landlord in court.
A landlord has to start all over again if he still wants to evict two of the Guatemalan temporary workers he brought to Fair Haven to work at his painting company.
Continue reading ‘Migrant Workers' Eviction Stopped, For Now’
by | Jan 17, 2024 3:03 pm | Comments (24)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Mark DeFrancesco: I treated tenants/workers well.
Mark DeFrancesco denied that he offered no beds to the 19 Guatemalan migrants working for him and living in one of his houses.
He denied that he deliberately locked out two of those tenants after they got injured at work.
And he denied that the eviction he has launched against those two tenants is a way to avoid paying worker’s compensation.
“I got them a 60 inch TV!” he testified in housing court. Two of them, in fact, he added at his lawyer’s prompting.
Continue reading ‘Boss/Landlord Defends Booting Injured Worker’
by | Jan 12, 2024 2:54 pm | Comments (24)
Edgar Becerra in court: "I just want everyone to know the name of this company and all the injustices they did."
Construction boss-landlord Mark DeFrancesco, right, in court with lawyer Josh Brown.
Edgar Becerra fell off a 30-foot ladder — then landed in court this week fighting to stay in the country against a boss who first fired him then moved to evict him.
Continue reading ‘Landlord-Boss Boots Injured Migrant Worker’
by | Dec 20, 2023 10:20 am | Comments (29)
Thomas Breen photo
At Tuesday's ULA-hosted meetup at 200 Orange.
New Haveners who hail from Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Chile, Honduras, and elsewhere across Latin America gathered downtown to deliver a message to the mayor: that their adopted home city should be a “sanctuary city” — not just by executive order, but by law.
Continue reading ‘Immigrants Press Mayor For "Sanctuary" Law’
by | Dec 18, 2023 12:22 pm | Comments (41)
In the wake of a state-spawned controversy over the reporting of New Haven marriages to federal immigration authorities, Gov. Ned Lamont declared that no “bureaucrat” should single out couples for discriminatory treatment because of their race, ethnicity, or nation of origin.
Continue reading ‘Lamont Slams New Haven Marriage Referrals’
by | Dec 15, 2023 3:44 pm | Comments (15)
Laura Glesby Photo
Immigrant activists at a protest on Monday outside City Hall.
What happens when a city official reports your marriage to immigration authorities?
Immigration lawyers are working to make sense of that question as local families prepare for what could be years of scrutiny, uncertainty, and anxiety.
Continue reading ‘Next Steps Weighed After Marriage Reports To Feds’
by | Dec 12, 2023 2:10 pm | Comments (29)
Laura Glesby Photo
Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, who officiated Erika's wedding: "The day of a marriage is one of the happiest days in their lives."
Three weeks after getting married, Erika found herself wondering whether her family was one of at least 78 couples that a city official had reported to federal immigration authorities.
“I am very afraid,” she said in Spanish.
Continue reading ‘Fearing Feds, Immigrants Ask For Protection’
by | Dec 11, 2023 2:01 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen Photo
Trish Clark: Now on leave for flagging 78 marriages in 3-month period to federal immigration authorities.
State DPH associate Katie Sehi emailed this guidance to Clark in February.
(Updated) A state employee told New Haven’s official responsible for maintaining marriage records to report “suspicious” marriage license applicants to federal immigration authorities.
The registrar replied that her office was “uncomfortable” issuing licenses to “numerous” couples — before reporting at least 78 marriage licenses for non-citizen immigrants in a three-month period to the Department of Homeland Security.
Continue reading ‘State Emails To City: "Report" "Suspicious" Immigrant Marriages’
by | Dec 6, 2023 3:07 pm | Comments (9)
Yash Roy Photos
Protesters plan to gather every Monday until YNHH agrees to meet with them.
Three months after Yale New Haven Hospital’s cleaning contractor suddenly laid off nearly 50 of its mostly-Latino employees, about a dozen of those former cleaners protested at the main entrance of the hospital.
by | Dec 5, 2023 9:01 am | Comments (23)
Laura Glesby file photo
Kica Matos: Time to lead again.
Sixteen years after New Haven became the first city to issue a municipal ID card to city residents regardless of their citizenship status, advocates are calling on the city to once again lead the way in protecting immigrant rights — including by creating a new city Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Continue reading ‘Advocates To City: Be Bold Again On Immigrant Rights’
by | Nov 27, 2023 11:48 am | Comments (0)
Next: Chris George and successor Maggie Mitchell Salem.
Running a $12 million-a-year nonprofit with 138 staffers helping resettle 1,000 refugees a year is a big enough challenge.
Add to that inheriting the helm of such an effort from a person who made all that possible over 18 years.
by | Aug 23, 2023 1:01 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photo
Juliana Garcia (center) at Fair Haven Health talk: "To what extent can I dream?"
Juliana Garcia can still remember being nine years old, uninsured, and telling her mom that it really was ok for her to pass on a dental surgery that would cost more than $4,000.
That the healthcare operation could wait. That that money needed to be spent instead on rent and food and other essentials.
Continue reading ‘In Fair Haven, Healthcare Expanders Dare To Dream’
by | Jul 27, 2023 8:57 am | Comments (0)
Nieda Abbas encouraging guests to dig in at Tuesday's celebration.
Local bakers, daycare leaders, and healthcare providers came together to celebrate the success of a downtown cafe’s efforts to get New Haven employers to hire refugee and immigrant women.
by | Jul 10, 2023 10:48 am | Comments (3)
Brian Slattery Photos
Tijoux at Sunday's ULA event.
Songs and art of hope and strength came to Bregamos Community Theater as international hip hop artist Ana Tijoux headlined an afternoon and evening of food, history, and artistic vision — for an event put together by Unidad Latina en Acción to celebrate 21 years of operation as an immigrant rights activist group.
by | Jun 30, 2023 4:25 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed by Jane Kinity
World Refugee Day picnic.
College Woods Park came alive with dance, food, and community last weekend as New Haveners gathered to celebrate World Refugee Day.
by | Jun 30, 2023 3:01 pm | Comments (28)
Laura Glesby photos
Alders Tyisha Walker-Myers, Sarah Miller, and Kim Edwards hear public testimony...
...as Unidad Latina en Acción activists like Nayeli Garcia protest stringent meeting rules.
Alders dropped an effort to amend the city charter to allow non-citizens to serve on city boards and commissions at the advice of legal counsel — after 20 activists filled the local legislative chambers with chants of “no justice” and held up posters of local immigrants with blacked-out eyes and mouths.
Continue reading ‘Alders Block Non-Citizens From Boards For Now’
by | Jun 30, 2023 9:25 am | Comments (72)
Thomas Breen photo
Brennan, Goldenberg, and Mayor Elicker on the debate stage Thursday.
Abddusabur: "If we're not prioritizing taking care of our own community, how the hell are we going to have housing for somebody else that just got here?"
A hypothetical “bus of immigrants” rolled up to a Newhallville school auditorium Thursday night — revealing a divide among the city’s four Democratic mayoral candidates over just how much of a haven New Haven should be for new arrivals in need.
Continue reading ‘Immigrant "Bus" Pulls In To Mayoral Debate’
by | Jun 28, 2023 6:31 pm | Comments (41)
Arts Paper / Lucy Gellman photo
IRIS Executive Director Chris George.
As director of a local refugee and immigrant service agency, IRIS, I have been following the New Haven alders’ discussions about revising the New Haven city charter to remove the requirement that one must be a U.S. citizen in order to serve on a city commission or board.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: Let Immigrants Serve On City Boards’
