(Updated June 8, 7:18 a.m.) Federal agents busted at least four households of allegedly undocumented immigrants in Fair Haven Wednesday morning, confirmed Kica Matos (pictured), City Hall’s point person for immigration reform. The feds called the raids “routine.”
The raids — at seven locations —come a day and a half after New Haven approved a landmark new municipal i.d. plan aimed to help undocumented workers open bank accounts, and thus avoid being easy prey for muggers. The law drew national attention; it was the latest move by New Haven to position itself in the welcoming camp of the national divide over immigration policy.
The feds said they detained 31 immigrants on a variety of charges.
Immigrant rights groups fanned out through the city Wednesday seeking to collect information to craft a response. A team from the Yale Law School was preparing to represent those detained, who Matos said are being sent out of state.
Matos, who designed the plan, said she believes the timing of the raids is no coincidence.
“I can’t help but think there’s a connection,” she said. “Why else would they be in New Haven at this time? I think this is a disgrace. I’m ashamed of the federal government.”
“This is not in response to that,” said Paula Grenier, a spokeswoman from the Boston office of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office. “These are routine operations that are conducted all the time. This is a nationwide team.”
Grenier said that agents from ICE’s Fugitive Operations Team Hartford Office conducted the raids, about which she said she could not give specifics. She said they were serving “warrants of deportation. They’re looking for fugitive aliens who are in violation of removal orders.”
She said such warrants are “for people who have been before an immigration court.” Immigration judges “decided they have to leave the country. They have failed to comply with the judge’s order.”
Asked when was the last time such an operation took place in New Haven, Grenier said she had no information.
Grenier said that not all the 29 people arrested were wanted on fugitive warrants. Once agents go into a home to serve the warrants, they will also check on other people present and make arrests on other immigration-related charges. Grenier said she did not have a breakdown of how many of the 29 had outstanding fugitive warrants.
New Haven police spokeswoman Bonnie Posick said the feds gave the local cops a “courtesy call” around 7 a.m. “to let us know they were going to be in New Haven. It was just a heads up.” Posick said the feds did not give the department any details or ask for help.
Fr. Jim Manship of St. Rose of Lima Church was at the Atwater house this morning speaking to people in the apartment where the raid took place. Manship said at least five people were taken in the raid on that one apartment. Manship was cruising Fair Haven in his white Ford Explorer keeping in contact with activists and immigrants, many of whom are associated with his church. He reported that at least five more adults — four men, one woman — were taken from one of two Peck Street addressed that the feds raided.
Manship accused the feds of “terrorizing” immigrant families as a substitute for a seriously attacking the challenge of immigration reform.
““Imagine someone busting into your house at 6 in the morning,” he said. “It’s kicking… folks who can’t defend themselves. You drive them into the shadows. How’s that better for anybody?”
“I’m angry. My anger is beyond words,” Manship said. “People shouldn’t live in fear. We should be able to figure out what we’re doing about immigration on a national level without people worrying bout their safety.”