Immigrants

Probe Reveals Marriage-License Misconduct

by | Mar 8, 2024 4:42 pm | Comments (50)

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.

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Protest Targets Migrant Worker Eviction

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.

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Daniels Welcomes Immigrant Wave

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.

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Boss/Landlord Defends Booting Injured Worker

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.

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Landlord-Boss Boots Injured Migrant 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.

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Immigrants Press Mayor For "Sanctuary" Law

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.

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Fearing Feds, Immigrants Ask For Protection

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.

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State Emails To City: "Report" "Suspicious" Immigrant Marriages

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.

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Advocates To City: Be Bold Again On Immigrant Rights

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.

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IRIS Torch Passed

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.

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In Fair Haven, Healthcare Expanders Dare To Dream

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.

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ULA Marks 21 Years Of Immigrant Advocacy

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. 

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Alders Block Non-Citizens From Boards For Now

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.

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Immigrant "Bus" Pulls In To Mayoral Debate

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.

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Opinion: Let Immigrants Serve On City Boards

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.

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Advocates Demand "Justice For Roya"

by | Jun 27, 2023 3:17 pm | Comments (22)

Mia Cortés Castro Photo

Rallying for "Justice For Roya!" in West Haven.

Over two dozen New Haveners decamped to West Haven City Hall to celebrate the tragically short life of Roya Mohammadi — and to amp up pressure on police and public officials to take action around the sudden death of the 29-year-old Afghan immigrant and translator, whom advocates fear was a victim of domestic violence.

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Immigrants Cut Short, Walk Out

by | Jun 21, 2023 2:20 pm | Comments (32)

Laura Glesby photos

Carolina Sánchez at City Hall: "I want to continue."

Committee Chair Jeanette Morrison (center): "I just want to make sure we're staying germane."

Two dozen immigrant rights advocates walked out of a City Hall meeting in protest after an alder insisted that a testifier stay on topic — as a stream of advocacy for non-citizen voices in local government morphed into a debate over what residents are entitled to talk about at public hearings.

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Immigrant Participation, Protections Eyed

by and | Jun 9, 2023 2:33 pm | Comments (12)

Thomas Breen photos

Alder Guzhnay (right): It'd be "great for New Haven to be on the front lines."

ULA's John Lugo (right) at workshop about restaurant worker protection proposal.

Should non‑U.S.-citizens be allowed to serve on local government committees like the City Plan Commission or the Board of Library Directors? 

And should the Health Department be allowed to crack down on restaurants for committing wage theft or worker harassment?

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