by | Apr 12, 2018 4:50 pm | Comments (9)
Paul Bass Photo
Paul Kuriakose outside 325 Fountain.
The roof might last another year, the inspector told Paul Kuriakose. Kuriakose decided not to take any chances.
by | Mar 23, 2018 8:17 am | Comments (13)
Christopher Peak Photo
Organizer John Lugo addresses crowd at Ferry & State.
Fair Haven immigrants striking at a metal factory won the support Thursday afternoon of neighbors and activists who marched to offer the kind of street heat they say is needed to combat employers’ leverage over undocumented workers.
by | Mar 14, 2018 5:22 pm | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photo
Fausto Guamantari, the new man selling, fixing and shining shoes on Whitney Avenue, learned his trade from his father back in Ecuador.
by | Mar 14, 2018 3:47 pm | Comments (2)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Clergy lead a prayer circle on the first floor of the Legislative Office Building Wednesday.
Hartford—“Dreamers” —children born to adults living in the U.S. without legal permission — gathered with clergy at the state Capitol Wednesday to call on the legislature to pass a bill that would open a pool of student-generated financial aid to the undocumented students that help pay for it.
Continue reading ‘Dreamers, Clergy Press Forward On Student Aid’
by | Mar 6, 2018 8:39 am | Comments (2)
Cumbicos (second from right) with (from left) husband Ramon, organizer Kica Matos, sister Elizabeth.
Last week a fourth undocumented immigrant facing deportation sought sanctuary at a New Haven church. Monday she regained her freedom.
by | Mar 6, 2018 8:38 am | Comments (2)
Natasha Samuels Photos
St. Luke’s Steel Band providesthe rhythm for the evening festivities.
Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton, the first Jamaican elected to the Board of Alders and Karaine Holness, president of the Jamaican American Connection.
The Board of Alders Black and Hispanic Caucus closed out Black History Month by celebrating the city’s West Indian Connection with food, music, and dance.
by | Mar 5, 2018 1:52 pm | Comments (0)
Lucy Gellman photo / Paul Bass photo / Markeshia Ricks photo
Wessel Award winners Doreen Abubakar (left) and Ana María Rivera-Forastieri and Brett Davidson (center and right). .
A lifelong Newhallville community activist and a nonprofit dedicated to keeping local immigrants out of jail are the latest recipients of an annual award given to New Haveners who work towards extending help to local families in need.
Continue reading ‘Immigrant Bail Fund, Newhallville Activist Honored’
by | Feb 28, 2018 10:02 pm | Comments (24)
Christopher Peak Photo
Ana María Rivera-Forastieri and John Lugo address rally.
Two weeks ago, Marco Mendieta, a 24-year-old undocumented immigrant living in the Quinnipiac Meadows neighborhood, was arraigned in New Haven’s state Superior Court for breaking a traffic law. A judge released him without bail, accepting Mendieta’s promise to appear at the next hearing.
But Mendieta wasn’t able to keep his word. Before he even left the courthouse, federal immigration authorities picked him up and sent him to a detention facility in Massachusetts. After being shuttled to several different prisons, Mendieta ended up back in Mexico this week.
by | Feb 19, 2018 12:05 pm | Comments (1)
Harry Droz Photo
Ide Ehigiato.
Why did the turkey cross the road?
If Mel and Ide Ehigiato were telling the joke, the punchline would end with wedding gowns.
by | Feb 13, 2018 8:52 pm | Comments (16)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Hazel Mencos tells lawmakers of crossing the border alone to meet her mom in New Haven.
Hartford — Wilbur Cross High School student Hazel Mencos came to the state Capitol Tuesday and exercised a right that many American citizens never use: She testified in a public hearing in favor of a bill, answered questions from a lawmaker, and had her view entered into the public records.
by | Feb 2, 2018 3:50 pm | Comments (1)
Blumenthal with refugee students and ESL teacher Alan Gibbons.
Omar Moussa and his parents arrived from Syria two years ago after spending four years in a Jordanian refugee camp. He was 17 — the same age as U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s father in 1935 when he arrived from Frankfort, Germany, then in the initial throes of the Nazi takeover.
However, Blumenthal’s father in 1935 did not face the heart-breaking political and bureaucratic obstacles to bring over the rest of his family, which are now being confronted by Omar’s remaining siblings in Jordan and Lebanon.
That’s thanks to Donald Trump’s Executive Order(s) 13769/13780, known as “the Muslim” ban.
Continue reading ‘Blumenthal To Refugee Kids: “We’re Proud Of You”’
by | Feb 2, 2018 8:36 am | Comments (15)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Adil Chokairy cuts the ribbon on his latest New Haven eatery.
Adil Chokairy is hoping that if you’re famished before or after a busy day of shopping in the Broadway District, you’ll fuel up with a crêpe.
by | Jan 31, 2018 1:20 pm | Comments (7)
Paul Bass Photo
Tessema with sidelined cart parked in alley.
Wub misses Cedar Street. Cedar Street misses Wub’s grub.
Thanks to a paperwork snag in the city’s new mobile-food system, the two remain apart, at least for now.
by | Jan 29, 2018 8:55 am | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
The Dalatis Sunday in their Westville apartment.
The timing of Donald Trump’s travel ban has split a Syrian family between New Haven and Lebanon — only in this case it’s the grandparents who made it to the Promised Land, praying for a breakthrough so their beloved daughter and grandchildren can join them.
by | Jan 29, 2018 8:53 am | Comments (38)
Fresh off her “Trump moment” last week — when the president called her out for boycotting a White House meeting that turned into a photo op for his administration’s attack on sanctuary cities — New Haven Mayor Toni Harp promised Sunday that she and her fellow black mayors “will protect immigrants.”
by | Jan 25, 2018 8:54 am | Comments (61)
Harp (at right): Smelled a Trump (left) set-up.
President Donald Trump sought to recognize New Haven Mayor Toni Harp Wednesday — then criticized her when it turned out she wasn’t in the room to receive the compliment.
by | Jan 19, 2018 1:08 pm | Comments (2)
Ahmed, Appel, Rahman — & lots of food.
Allan Appel Photos
First came the dandakae. Then came a story about how Afghans and Pakistanis are building new lives on New Haven’s east side, a story at odds with the narrative coming out of Washington.
by | Jan 16, 2018 8:44 am | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photos
AME Bishop W. Darin Moore at New Haven Rising’s MLK Day rally at Varick Church.
On the day that slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 89 years old, hundreds of New Haveners gathered to celebrate his legacy of racial and economic justice, and to extend that legacy to the current fight for immigrant rights.
by | Jan 7, 2018 12:00 pm | Comments (11)
Christopher Peak Photo
Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, at a town hall meeting on Puerto Rico.
New Haven has already welcomed hundreds of Puerto Ricans fleeing the devastation Hurricane Maria left last September. But even more evacuees could soon arrive in the Elm City.
by | Dec 13, 2017 8:45 am | Comments (4)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Clockwise: Rivera-Forastieri, Alok Bhatt, Jesus Morales-Sanchez and Mark Reed at the hearing.
Hartford — Advocates came here from New Haven to urge a commission to help immigrants avoid the clutches of federal agents by shaving one day off a state sentencing rule that can turn low-level offenders into “aggravated” felons.
by | Dec 6, 2017 5:02 pm | Comments (4)
Contributed Photos
Over 200 immigrant-rights activists — including a contingent from New Haven — were arrested at the nation’s Capitol during a nationwide day of protest in support of DREAM Act legislation and a legislative solution for temporary protected status (TPS) holders.
Continue reading ‘Immigrant-Rights Activists Arrested In D.C. Protest’
by | Dec 1, 2017 8:54 am | Comments (4)
Christopher Peak Photo
Nelson Pinos inside his new temporary home Thursday.
A week after one undocumented immigrant emerged from a downtown “sanctuary church,” another took his place Thursday.
Continue reading ‘Third Immigrant Takes Sanctuary At Local Church’
by | Nov 29, 2017 1:30 pm | Comments (5)
Paul Bass Photo
Pinos outside his home.
City of New Haven
425 Howard on fire Nov. 11.
Claudio Pinos has been building up the block where he lives in the Hill — and now an international bank has let part of it burn down.
by | Nov 23, 2017 10:01 am | Comments (1)
Paul Bass Photo
Thanks to a surprise Thanksgiving Eve reprieve, Marco Antonio Reyes Alvarez emerged Wednesday evening from the downtown church that has been his sanctuary with a message of hope for other immigrants battling deportation: “Don’t give up. Because if I can do it, everyone can.”
by | Nov 21, 2017 8:38 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Connecticut’s governor and two U.S. senators raced to New Haven Monday afternoon to plea for a reprieve from a deportation order for a woman who’s keeping her ill 12-year-old daughter alive.
Continue reading ‘Guv, Senators Issue Plea On Mom’s Deportation’