http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1012321

Danbury mayor going to Brazil
By Elizabeth Putnam
THE NEWS-TIMES

Mark Boughton
DANBURY -- Mayor Mark Boughton will travel to Brazil in two weeks to discuss immigration issues with United States and Brazilian officials.
The U.S. Mission in Brazil, which includes three U.S. consulates and the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, will hold an annual conference Sept. 21 and 22 on immigration and fraud prevention at the U.S. Consulate in Sao Paulo.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Brazilian Federal Police, and airline officials from United States and Brazil will discuss immigration trends between the U.S. and Brazil and visa distribution to better understand the process and suggest possible changes.

U.S. Consulate officials last month invited Boughton to be a guest speaker for a conference session called "The View from America."

The objective is to have a mayor from an American city with a large Brazilian population discuss how legal and illegal immigration has impacted the city, said Stephen Ruken, mission fraud prevention manager at the U.S. Consulate Rio de Janeiro, in an e-mail to the mayor's secretary.

Ruken also said Danbury is frequently mentioned as the destination of choice by many visa applicants in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

"I think that state and (Department of Homeland Security) officials would benefit greatly from hearing from local government officials on the ground who are impacted by our visa decisions," Ruken said. "Conversely, (Boughton) might gain insight into the challenges faced by the Brazilian community here, and what Brazilians here tell us about living in the United States," he said.

Boughton, who has been outspoken about the impact of unchecked immigration on Danbury, said the trip offers him an opportunity to meet with key decision makers and understand how their process works. He especially wants to discuss immigrants with expired visas.

"There will be a small enough group where ideas can be shared, but a large enough group that can impact policy," Boughton said Wednesday.

About 13,000 Brazilians live in Danbury, making the city one of the largest Brazilian communities outside of Brazil. The number of those who are here illegally, however, is largely unknown.

Estimates of the entire city's illegal immigrant population range from 10,000 to 20,000.

Immigration has been a key topic for Boughton, a Republican in his third two-year term, since he began lobbying Congress for immigration reform in 2002.

Boughton also co-founded Mayors and County Executives for Immigration Reform, a lobbying group that wants secure borders, enforced immigration laws, and reimbursement to communities throughout the country for the cost of playing host to so many undocumented people.

About 80 mayors and county executives attended a two-hour workshop in Washington, D.C. in March, and they have held two conference calls since then. The group's Web site, http://www.SupportReform.org, includes a petition for reform of the nation's immigration system.

Emanuela Lima, executive director of the English and Portuguese language newspaper Tribuna, said she is not sure what to make of the mayor's trip. Immigration cannot be resolved at the local level but at the federal level, she said."It depends on whether he says (Brazilian) immigration has been a positive or negative impact on the city," Lima said. "Brazilians have helped to revitalize downtown and have had a positive impact culturally."

Lima also said she is surprised Boughton agreed to travel to Brazil. She has been trying to get the mayor to travel to Danbury's sister city Anápolis, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, for about two years, she said.

Boughton will travel with his wife to the U.S. Consulate in Sao Paulo. The city will pay for his expenses. Boughton and his wife will pay for her expenses.


Contact Elizabeth Putnam
at eputnam@newstimes.com

or at (203) 731-3411.