March Aims At Immigration Clampdown
by Thomas MacMillan | July 29, 2009 7:48 AM | Comments (39)

New Haven activists, angered that East Haven cops are allegedly calling the feds to deport Latinos rounded up at traffic stops, are planning a hundreds-strong cross-border protest.

The activists’ plans mark the latest chapter in an ongoing controversy involving alleged racial profiling and harassment of Latinos by the East Haven police department.

It follows incidents in which cops allegedly rounded up Latinos in traffic stops, asked for their identification, discovered they had no proof of U.S. residency, then called federal authorities to try to have them deported.

On Tuesday night in a third-floor room at the People’s Center on Howe Street, a dozen activists gathered to prepare the march, scheduled for Aug. 15. The plans come in response to police threats of deportation that allegedly played a part in several recent arrests in East Haven.

The march is designed to pressure East Haven mayor April Capone Almon to order the police department not to ask arrestees about their immigration status, as the mayors of New Haven and Hartford have ordered.

Mayor Almon, contacted before the meeting said that she doesn’t have the power to make such an order. She claimed it would violate federal law. A march would be a mistake, given progress that her town is making in integrating its Latino community, the mayor said.

The issue of race-based police harassment in East Haven was touched off by the arrest of New Haven priest and immigrant advocate Father James Manship last February.

Manship’s arrest while documenting alleged police intimidation opened the doors to the revelation of numerous complaints by local Latinos that the cops have targeted them for threats, harassment, and even physical abuse. This led to the filing of a request for an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The events have illuminated a stark contrast between New Haven — a town which drew national attention for it’s immigrant-friendly Elm City ID Card — and neighboring East Haven — which has gained notoriety due to allegations of its anti-immigrant police practices.

East Haven police are now accused of stepping up their harassment of Latinos by calling federal immigration enforcement for deportation when they arrest Latinos who do not have proof of legal residency in the U.S.

The march is intended to put a stop to this alleged practice.

TM_072809_062.jpgMarch organizer John Lugo (pictured at the center of this photo, and at the top of the story with activist Marco Castillo) said that the march is a reaction specifically to the arrest and threatened deportation of two individuals on July 13 in East Haven. One of these men, who did not want to be named or photographed for fear of reprisal, was at Tuesday’s meeting, and told his story. He is an immigrant from Mexico who has been living with his wife and two children for seven years in New Haven. He has a job delivering furniture, sometimes to East Haven.

Arrested, Almost Deported?

Here’s what happened when he was arrested, according to the man:

He was visiting My Country Store, a business in East Haven whose customers have allegedly been targeted for police harassment, on the evening of July 13. After spending a couple of hours using the store’s internet services to communicate with his family in Mexico, the man left and walked to his car. He got in and shut the door. Before he could start the engine, a police officer was at his window. He was asked to step out and place his hands on top of the car. The officer then emptied his pockets and asked him his name.

The officer went to his cruiser, came back and told the man he was under arrest. “Your plates are fraud in Connecticut,â€