Thread: CT-Danbury ICE talks lead to fewer immigrants

Danbury ICE talks lead to fewer immigrants

Boston Globe
By Everton Bailey Jr.
Associated Press Writer / August 15, 2009

DANBURY, Conn.—Scores of immigrants are fleeing this western Connecticut city, residents say, as the economy falters and the police department begins a partnership with federal immigration officials that puts more pressure on illegal immigrants.

The partnership, announced by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency this week, will train Danbury police officers to identify criminals who have broken immigration laws. Danbury is one of dozens of communities across the country participating in the program, but it's particularly controversial in this city of 75,000, which has as many as 10,000 illegal immigrants.

Three years ago, undercover Danbury police officers promised jobs to nine day laborers in a sting operation, then turned them over to federal agents for deportation. The controversial sting led to a civil rights lawsuit, with the plaintiffs alleging that police had no probable cause to target them. Plaintiffs also alleged they were denied access to phones to call families and attorneys while being sent to detention centers as far away as Texas.

Hundreds of residents protested at City Hall earlier this year when Danbury's City Council voted 19-2 to apply for the federal program. Danbury officials have promised that the training won't be used as an excuse to round up illegal immigrants.

"I think there is a general understanding that if you are not breaking the law, then you shouldn't have an issue," Mayor Mark Boughton said. "Of course, there are going to be some misconceptions, but I can assure you cops will not be stopping people on the streets at random demanding proper identification."

Immigrants aren't so sure. Barbara Levitt, 58, owner of the Upscale Downtown consignment shop, said immigrant-owned stores began disappearing after the City Council applied to the immigration program.

"You could drive down this street, and you could see, all of a sudden, there were all these 'for rent' signs," she said. "People just left town."

Sandra Machado, 48, co-owner of Graphica, a Danbury design and printing shop, has seen a 50 percent decrease in sales because people are leaving Danbury. The Brazilian-born Machado, who resides in Bethel, said she estimates 85 percent of her customers are immigrants.

Cristiana Lopes, a travel agent for BACC Travel in Danbury, said in the last 10 months she has sold around 500 tickets to immigrants wanting to leave the city and return to their homelands, most of them to stay indefinitely.

Lopes, 27, said many find the process to become a naturalized citizen too demanding and costly. She also said that many illegal immigrants just want to make a better living for themselves and their families and do not have criminal intent.

"They know that it is not right, but what else can they do?" said Lopes, who is originally from Brazil.

Jose Contreras, 41, owner of Sabrosura, an El Salvadorian restaurant in Danbury, said the majority of city immigrants feel the effects of the bad deeds of a few.

"Some people are afraid," said Contreras, an El Salvador native who has been in the U.S. for 21 years. "But for the people that come here to do other things, they make it harder for the rest of us."

Boughton said he doesn't see a correlation between the program and an immigrant exodus.

"We haven't noticed that much," he said. "If people are leaving, it's mostly due to the economy."

He said Danbury has for a long time been an attractive place for immigrants to settle because of housing availability and the city's close proximity to other equally diverse populations in Fairfield County.

"We've had a long tradition of immigrants settling here, and we are proud of that history," he said

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connec ... mmigrants/

CRY ME A DAMN RIVER DANBURY!!!!

http://www.sanctuarycities.info/sanctua ... cticut.htm

Danbury congregation joins sanctuary movement
By Marcela Rojas for The Journal News, May 28, 2008

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury, Conn., has joined the New Sanctuary Movement, a national faith-based campaign seeking to assist families facing deportation while advocating for immigration reform.

"We've seen how our current immigration policy has led to many families being torn apart, people unjustly detained and deported," said Southeast resident Carl Tichler, the congregation's board president. "We want to publicize the current injustices" and how they affect families, he said.

The Danbury congregation, which has some 150 members, recently voted 67-7 to participate in the New Sanctuary Movement, pledging to "take a public, moral stand for immigrants' rights" and "protect immigrants against hate, workplace discrimination and unjust deportation."

While some sanctuary churches have harbored illegal immigrants inside houses of worship, the Danbury Unitarians expect to help families obtain legal aid, lobby authorities and publicize the struggles of family members separated because of their immigration status, Tichler said. The plan will be refined as they move forward and work with the national movement, he said.

Cristiana Lopes, a travel agent for BACC Travel in Danbury, said in the last 10 months she has sold around 500 tickets to immigrants wanting to leave the city and return to their homelands, most of them to stay indefinitely.
quoted from the top story....best news I have heard all day

What exactly does a legal immigrant have to fear? Illegal aliens have plenty to fear, so quit classifying them as just immigrants. We ain't that stupid.

Hundreds of residents protested at City Hall earlier this year when Danbury's City Council voted 19-2 to apply for the federal program. Danbury officials have promised that the training won't be used as an excuse to round up illegal immigrants.

Hundreds of residents protested? I wonder how many of these residents were actually citizens of the United States. Seems to me the only ones who would have a problem with this would be the illegals themselves and their anchor babies!