by | Apr 5, 2012 11:35 am | Comments (1)
Melissa Bailey Photo
When it came time to bury a pillar of New Haven’s Jamaican community, Mama Lue got out a goat’s head, a machete, and a bottle of white rum — and kicked off a goodbye party that kept a homeland tradition alive.
by | Mar 6, 2012 3:36 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Migdalia Castro (pictured) led the charge.
Two weeks after the mayor pushed back on a new federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement program to crack down on illegal immigration, New Haven’s Board of Aldermen has officially joined the resistance.
by | Feb 23, 2012 9:47 am | Comments (3)
Dustin Gold, the suburban Northford activist who led the vociferous protests against New Haven’s introduction of an immigrant-friendly i.d. card, has been arrested for allegedly stabbing a man in the stomach.
by | Feb 23, 2012 9:16 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Organizers Zuniga and Ortiz.
They will be wearing white shirts and carrying American flags. They will number between 600 and a thousand people, and among them will be not only Latinos but members of a dozen organizations including Baptist churches and the NAACP. And their message to the mayor will be: Reach out to us all with respect and justice or step aside.
Continue reading
‘Fair Haven Gathering
Plots East Haven March’
by | Feb 21, 2012 4:19 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Now that civil-rights advocates have learned that New York’s cops have been spying on New Haven-based Muslims, they want to know more.
by | Feb 20, 2012 4:01 pm | Comments (9)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
The mayor issued an urgent appeal to put the brakes on a new enforcement program, as New Haven’s immigrant-friendly policies headed for another collision course with the federal government.
Continue reading ‘City Pushes Back Against Feds On Immigration’
by | Feb 15, 2012 4:03 pm | Comments (0)
“They didn’t respect our rights,” Washington Colala said. “They didn’t respect the tears of our children.”
What Immigration and Customs Enforcement did respect was a federal lawsuit.
by | Feb 10, 2012 9:08 am | Comments (0)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Sara and Berket.
If he can raise the money, Newhallville 13-year-old Berket will join a national youth leadership conference in Washington D.C. this summer. It will be the latest step on a journey he began as an infant with his mother in Ethiopia, part of a path that winds through Kenya, Uganda, and a New Haven homeless shelter.
by | Feb 3, 2012 10:01 am | Comments (14)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Matute unpacks printer cartridges in My Country Store.
Melissa Bailey Photo
Jimenez, at left.
When Ecuadorian activist Dixon Jimenez helped deliver 400 protest tacos to East Haven mayor’s office, he and fellow advocates crossed the border to do so. When East Haven’s Ecuadorian immigrants want to pray or play soccer, they cross the border back into New Haven.
by | Feb 2, 2012 5:49 pm | Comments (7)
Two immigrant stories collided in federal court: one about a man from Italy with no formal education who created a family business in Fair Haven — and another about a family of Ecuadorian immigrants who claim he verbally, physically and sexually abused them while they worked in his bakery.
Continue reading ‘Rocco’s Owner Spared Prison In “Slavery” Case’
by | Jan 26, 2012 4:26 pm | Comments (12)
Melissa Bailey Photo
New Haven’s Latino advocates saved one taco for East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. and sent 399 others to people who might appreciate them more — diners at a local soup kitchen.
by | Dec 27, 2011 1:42 pm | Comments (7)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Chef Neftali Palma got a $7,500 check Tuesday for unpaid wages from the defunct Downtown at the Taft restaurant — one of 70 people who got help in 2011 from the New Haven Workers Association.
Continue reading ‘Activists Recover $80K In “Stolen Wages” in 2011’
by | Dec 14, 2011 7:44 pm | Comments (63)
First African-Americans got the vote. Then women. Now it’s immigrants’ turn.
Continue reading ‘DeStefano Envisions A New Voting Frontier’
by | Dec 13, 2011 4:19 pm | Comments (14)
Melissa Bailey Photo
If the federal Secure Communities program spreads to New Haven, it would “destroy” the trust police have built up with the community, Mayor John DeStefano warned.
Continue reading
‘City Swings Back
Vs. "Secure Communities"’
by | Dec 6, 2011 9:35 am | Comments (9)
Melissa Bailey File Photo
Alderwoman Castro.
It’s called “Secure Communities.” But Alderwoman Migdalia Castro said the immigration-enforcement program results only in scared communities.
Continue reading ‘Resolution Opposes Fed Anti-Immigrant Effort’
by | Nov 29, 2011 5:10 pm | Comments (11)
New Haven’s Father Jim Manship started a push for change in East Haven when he exposed police misconduct. Tuesday, that process took a step backward, in his view.
Continue reading
‘Gallo's Return Doesn't
Impress Father Jim’
by | Oct 28, 2011 11:56 am | Comments (6)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Officers Diego Quintero and Elvin Rivera.
Officer Elvin Rivera was going through backyards off Wolcott Street “like a hound dog” trying to find an alleged purse-snatcher. He knew he was holed up somewhere nearby. Suddenly someone whispered to him through a fence: The guy’s hiding in the house on the corner.
by | Sep 28, 2011 7:46 am | Comments (4)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Freedom Riders and DREAM Act-ivists shared Co-op High’s stage.
Their elders told them to stay in the shadows. Their supposed friend in the White House dragged his feet. Young people had to take the risks, and change America in the process.
by | Sep 26, 2011 10:29 am | Comments (15)
Melissa Bailey/ Jacob Cohn Photos
Lula Mae White risked jail 50 years ago when she rode Southern buses to promote integration. Lorella Praeli “came out of the shadows” this past year to help fellow undocumented immigrants make it to college. The two New Haven activists will share a stage to share their experiences — and explore the dream (or DREAM) the two student civil-rights struggles pursued a half-century apart.
by | Aug 15, 2011 8:20 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Wilmer Barzallo & son Alex.
Wilmer Barzallo may have given up teaching for waiting tables when he came to New Haven, but as he paraded around the Green with his fellow native Ecuadorians, he still couldn’t resist a teachable moment.
by | Aug 11, 2011 11:03 am | Comments (3)
Jacob Cohn Photo
As the gold, blue and red flag of Ecuador was raised for the first time in the symbolic center of town, Beatriz Avila waved her smaller flag in pride. New Haven is her city, too.
by | Mar 15, 2011 3:43 pm | Comments (11)
Christine Stuart Photo
State Rep. Candelaria (at left) with Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman (right) Tuesday.
The talk in Hartford Tuesday was about the dreams of immigrants’ children in Connecticut. New Haven’s lawmakers were doing much of the talking.
by | Mar 1, 2011 8:05 am | Comments (6)
Melinda Tuhus Photo
An Ecuadorian lawmaker came to New Haven to thank Mayor John DeStefano for his support of immigrants. The mayor, ever the politician, was very interested in the voting habits of her countrymen and women.
by | Feb 28, 2011 11:39 am | Comments (4)
Students joined politicians and activists for a spirited rally in New Haven City Hall urging the state legislature to give undocumented young people a shot at the American Dream.
by | Feb 25, 2011 12:49 pm | Comments (3)
Ana Bolanos felt trapped in a violent, loveless marriage. Her husband threatened to turn her in to immigration officials if she sought a divorce.