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.
That demand was at the top of the list read by members and supporters of the local immigrant advocacy group Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA) Tuesday evening during a meeting held at the municipal office building at 200 Orange St.
A full house, ready to press the mayor.
More than 75 people — from small children to elderly adults, nearly all of whom were immigrants from Central and South America and some of whom have lived in New Haven for decades — crowded around the table of a groundfloor meeting room for what was billed as a “Reunión con alcalda y ULA,” a meetup with the mayor and ULA.
The meeting took place several weeks after the revelation of a controversy that has sparked fear in the city’s immigrant community: that Registrar of Vital Statistics Patricia Clark reported at least 78 of 215 marriages in a three-month period to federal immigration authorities, based on perhaps erroneous advice from a state employee. The Elicker administration has placed Clark on paid administrative leave as it investigates whether or not she violated New Haven’s “welcoming city” executive order.
ULA's John Lugo ...
... Mayor Justin Elicker and Health Director Maritza Bond ...
... city social services director Eliza Halsey and top city attorney Patricia King, all at Tuesday's crowded meeting ...
... as recorded by attendees.
For more than an hour on Tuesday, speaking entirely in Spanish, ULA leader John Lugo and fellow immigrant attendees spoke with Mayor Justin Elicker and city Health Director Maritza Bond — whose department oversees the city’s marriage-records office — about a range of concerns. Those ranged from Clark’s alleged actions to a police officer shortage in Fair Haven to drug dealing on Grand Avenue to alleged waged theft that uniquely targets the city’s migrant community to the need for a new city Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Elicker and Bond, both of whom spoke fluently in Spanish throughout, listened to the community members’ concerns. They clarified what the city does and does not know at this time about the marriage-record referrals, emphasized that the city needs to complete its investigation before deciding whether or not to discipline Clark in any way, spoke about a nationwide police officer shortage, and stressed that the mayor cannot just create an Office of Immigrant Affairs himself. Rather, that would be a decision that city residents and city government, working together, would have to figure out together as to whether or not it should be a municipal and budgetary priority.
ULA's list of demands for the mayor.
Lugo and fellow attendees also read a seven-item list of demands directly to the mayor.
Those included: “Que se abra una oficina para asuntos migratorios,” that the city open an office of immigrant affairs; and “Proveer ayuda legal a todos los afectados por la filtracion de información a la migra,” that the city provide legal help to all those affected by the “leak” of informatio to immigration; and “Que Patricia Clark sea despedida immediatamente y que no trabaje en nunguna posicion en la ciudad de New Haven,” that Patricia Clark be fired immediately and not be allowed to work in any position for the City of New Haven.
Number one on that list of demands, though, was a call that ULA and local immigrant rights groups have been making for years: “Pasar la ordenanza Santuario para que sea ley de la ciudad,” that New Haven pass a “Sanctuary” ordinance to make it a law of the city.
In 2019, former Mayor Toni Harp signed such an executive order, which, among other provisions, says no city employee can ask about a person’s immigration status unless required by law; can use city resources to assist in registering individuals on the basis of their national origin or other demographics; nor can disclose confidential information, including receipt of public assistance or immigration status, without the person’s approval, authorization by another law or a separate investigation into crime or terrorism.
During his first term in office, Mayor Elicker signed a nearly identical “welcoming city” executive order which, again, prohibits city employees from trying to find out one’s immigration status unless required by state or federal law.
Mayor Justin Elicker: "Ultimately, it's the alders' decision whether to support a [sanctuary city] law."
Pressed to support a sanctuary city law as a more durable codification of New Haven’s protections for undocumented residents than an executive order, which could be repealed by an unsupportive mayor, Elicker told the group that that is “una conversación que necesitamos tener,” a conversation we need to have citywide. That he can only do so much as city government’s top official — that a law would have to be passed by and in collaboration with the Board of Alders, if there is widespread support citywide to put such a law on the books.
Asked after the meeting by this reporter as to where he stands now on whether or not New Haven should have a sanctuary city law, Elicker said he supports such a law — but, he said, “I think it is up to the alders” as to whether or not such a law will be considered and voted on.
He also said that whether or not a law is passed “doesn’t change the current situation” under the executive order, which accomplishes the same that a law would — albeit as put out by his office, and not officially approved by the city’s legislature. He recognized immigrant rights advocates’ concerns that a law would be more durable than an executive. He repeated that, “ultimately, it’s the alders’ decision whether to support a [sanctuary city] law.”
Also after Tuesday’s meeting, Lugo told this reporter that a sanctuary city law remains at the top of the list of his group’s demands of the city. “We need it as soon as possible,” he said. “That’s something we’ve been looking for for many years.” If Donald Trump is reelected as president, he cautioned, local undocumented immigrants would likely face a much more hostile and aggressive deportation-friendly regime. A law, rather than just an executive order, at the local level would be an important step towards reassuring New Haven’s migrant community that they are indeed welcome and protected in this city.
Would it help to finish the investigation first?