John C. Daniels newcomers with staff: Rosalyn Díaz-Ortiz, Heather O’Brien, Widny Morel, Marlene Rosario, Kenia Wama Vargas, Iveth Shenoha Quintero Rodriguez, Deam Sebastian Barrozo Garzon, David Santiago Franco Chaparro, and Yesenia Perez.
Forty-five native Spanish speakers have immigrated here and entered seventh and eighth grade at John C. Daniels School just over the past four months — and are getting up to speed fast thanks to a schoolwide effort to focus on language skills as well as family needs.
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Laura Glesby |
Feb 6, 2024 2:06 pm
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Becerra and Arana: They beat the landlord in court.
A landlord has to start all over again if he still wants to evict two of the Guatemalan temporary workers he brought to Fair Haven to work at his painting company.
Edgar Becerra in court: "I just want everyone to know the name of this company and all the injustices they did."
Construction boss-landlord Mark DeFrancesco, right, in court with lawyer Josh Brown.
Edgar Becerra fell off a 30-foot ladder — then landed in court this week fighting to stay in the country against a boss who first fired him then moved to evict him.
New Haveners who hail from Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Chile, Honduras, and elsewhere across Latin America gathered downtown to deliver a message to the mayor: that their adopted home city should be a “sanctuary city” — not just by executive order, but by law.
In the wake of a state-spawned controversy over the reporting of New Haven marriages to federal immigration authorities, Gov. Ned Lamont declared that no “bureaucrat” should single out couples for discriminatory treatment because of their race, ethnicity, or nation of origin.
Immigrant activists at a protest on Monday outside City Hall.
What happens when a city official reports your marriage to immigration authorities?
Immigration lawyers are working to make sense of that question as local families prepare for what could be years of scrutiny, uncertainty, and anxiety.
Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, who officiated Erika's wedding: "The day of a marriage is one of the happiest days in their lives."
Three weeks after getting married, Erika found herself wondering whether her family was one of at least 78 couples that a city official had reported to federal immigration authorities.
Trish Clark: Now on leave for flagging 78 marriages in 3-month period to federal immigration authorities.
State DPH associate Katie Sehi emailed this guidance to Clark in February.
(Updated) A state employee told New Haven’s official responsible for maintaining marriage records to report “suspicious” marriage license applicants to federal immigration authorities.
The registrar replied that her office was “uncomfortable” issuing licenses to “numerous” couples — before reporting at least 78 marriage licenses for non-citizen immigrants in a three-month period to the Department of Homeland Security.
Protesters plan to gather every Monday until YNHH agrees to meet with them.
Three months after Yale New Haven Hospital’s cleaning contractor suddenly laid off nearly 50 of its mostly-Latino employees, about a dozen of those former cleaners protested at the main entrance of the hospital.
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Dereen Shirnekhi |
Dec 5, 2023 9:01 am
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Kica Matos: Time to lead again.
Sixteen years after New Haven became the first city to issue a municipal ID card to city residents regardless of their citizenship status, advocates are calling on the city to once again lead the way in protecting immigrant rights — including by creating a new city Office of Immigrant Affairs.
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Thomas Breen |
Aug 23, 2023 1:01 pm
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Juliana Garcia (center) at Fair Haven Health talk: "To what extent can I dream?"
Juliana Garcia can still remember being nine years old, uninsured, and telling her mom that it really was ok for her to pass on a dental surgery that would cost more than $4,000.
That the healthcare operation could wait. That that money needed to be spent instead on rent and food and other essentials.
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Asher Joseph |
Jul 27, 2023 8:57 am
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Nieda Abbas encouraging guests to dig in at Tuesday's celebration.
Local bakers, daycare leaders, and healthcare providers came together to celebrate the success of a downtown cafe’s efforts to get New Haven employers to hire refugee and immigrant women.
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Brian Slattery |
Jul 10, 2023 10:48 am
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Tijoux at Sunday's ULA event.
Songs and art of hope and strength came to Bregamos Community Theater as international hip hop artist Ana Tijoux headlined an afternoon and evening of food, history, and artistic vision — for an event put together by Unidad Latina en Acción to celebrate 21 years of operation as an immigrant rights activist group.
Alders Tyisha Walker-Myers, Sarah Miller, and Kim Edwards hear public testimony...
...as Unidad Latina en Acción activists like Nayeli Garcia protest stringent meeting rules.
Alders dropped an effort to amend the city charter to allow non-citizens to serve on city boards and commissions at the advice of legal counsel — after 20 activists filled the local legislative chambers with chants of “no justice” and held up posters of local immigrants with blacked-out eyes and mouths.
Brennan, Goldenberg, and Mayor Elicker on the debate stage Thursday.
Abddusabur: "If we're not prioritizing taking care of our own community, how the hell are we going to have housing for somebody else that just got here?"
A hypothetical “bus of immigrants” rolled up to a Newhallville school auditorium Thursday night — revealing a divide among the city’s four Democratic mayoral candidates over just how much of a haven New Haven should be for new arrivals in need.
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Mia Cortés Castro |
Jun 27, 2023 3:17 pm
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Rallying for "Justice For Roya!" in West Haven.
Over two dozen New Haveners decamped to West Haven City Hall to celebrate the tragically short life of Roya Mohammadi — and to amp up pressure on police and public officials to take action around the sudden death of the 29-year-old Afghan immigrant and translator, whom advocates fear was a victim of domestic violence.
Carolina Sánchez at City Hall: "I want to continue."
Committee Chair Jeanette Morrison (center): "I just want to make sure we're staying germane."
Two dozen immigrant rights advocates walked out of a City Hall meeting in protest after an alder insisted that a testifier stay on topic — as a stream of advocacy for non-citizen voices in local government morphed into a debate over what residents are entitled to talk about at public hearings.
IRIS's Chris George (at right in photo) with Gov. Ned Lamont and state housing chief Seila Mosquera-Bruno at 2021 Scranton Street event highlighting need for apartments for Afghan refugees.
After 18 years of making New Haven a national leader in refugee resettlement, Chris George is ready to hand over the reins.
Kica Matos, newly tapped to become national immigrant rights org's president.
A long-time city immigrant rights advocate and civic leader will soon take the helm of a law center focused on fighting for low-income immigrants across the country.
IRIS's Chris George (at right in photo) with Gov. Ned Lamont and state housing chief Seila Mosquera-Bruno at 2021 Scranton Street event highlighting need for apartments for Afghan refugees.
New Haven’s refugee welcome wagon is becoming America’s welcome wagon.
