www.stamfordadvocate.com

Anti-immigration group plans Stamford chapter

By Vesna Jaksic
Staff Writer

Published August 23 2005


A controversial group that advocates against immigration wants to boost its presence in Connecticut by forming chapters, including one in the Stamford area.

Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, which has been most active in Danbury since forming in April, plans to hold a number of organizational meetings in the fall, including one for Stamford, Greenwich, Darien and Norwalk in October. The group, which opposes illegal and legal immigration, has caused controversy in several Connecticut towns where it has met, prompting protests and the formation of one immigrants' rights group.

Connecticut Citizens hopes to form chapters in Stamford, Stratford, New Haven, Meriden, Torrington, Norwich and New London, co-director Paul Streitz said. Most of the 250 members on the group's mailing list live in Danbury, followed by Waterbury and Hartford, he said.

"The idea was always to be a statewide organization and have chapters in each area that could deal with local problems because the local problems are different in each area," Streitz said.

The organization does not have a headquarters but regularly updates its Web site. Members have had letters published in newspaper editorial pages, contacted elected officials to oppose their immigration policies and protested in front of some of their offices, including that of U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.

Its Web site often displays controversial pictures, some of which aim to equate immigrants with terrorists. For example, a picture on the site's home page yesterday showed a London double-decker bus destroyed by a bomb. The organization has posted statistics about crimes committed by immigrants.

The group has been most active in Danbury, where Mayor Mark Boughton recently came under fire for several issues related to the city's fast-growing immigrant population. Boughton has said state police should be allowed to enforce immigration laws, and cracked down on many outdoor volleyball games in Danbury, which are a staple of the Ecuadorian community.

Boughton's actions and the presence of Connecticut Citizens prompted the formation of Dacorim, or Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants. Dacorim members have protested at some meetings of Connecticut Citizens.

Boughton did not return two calls for comment last week. Members of Dacorim could not be reached by phone or e-mail.

Philip Berns, a Stamford attorney who represents immigrants, said Connecticut Citizens is a "racist, anti-immigrant hate group." The group will find interested members in any city, Berns said, but he does not think most Stamford residents will support it.

"There is a small minority of people in Stamford who are going to be very welcoming to the distorted message that immigrants are criminals, that they refuse to become legal, that they refuse to learn the language, that they come here to take, take, take and not give anything," Berns said. "But one of the things that Stamford has that Danbury sadly does not have is we have a mayor who looks at local problems and looks for local solutions to those problems and sees the huge opportunity that the presence of these immigrants gives us."

Streitz denied that his group is racist or that it promotes hatred. Members simply are concerned about the country's immigration laws, he said. The group is not anti-immigrant, he said, but members think the number of immigrants allowed into the United States should be about 65,000 a year, not 1.2 million.

Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy said he is familiar with Connecticut Citizens and has read some of its newsletters. While some have made sound arguments for enforcing immigration laws, others have had racist overtones, he said.

"If they come in with a racist model, I don't think they'll last long in Stamford," he said. "I'm very confident that a message of hate is not going to resonate with a significant portion of our population."