by | Dec 15, 2023 3:44 pm | Comments (15)
Laura Glesby Photo
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.
Continue reading ‘Next Steps Weighed After Marriage Reports To Feds’
by | Dec 12, 2023 2:10 pm | Comments (29)
Laura Glesby Photo
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.
“I am very afraid,” she said in Spanish.
Continue reading ‘Fearing Feds, Immigrants Ask For Protection’
by | Dec 11, 2023 2:01 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen Photo
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.
Continue reading ‘State Emails To City: "Report" "Suspicious" Immigrant Marriages’
by | Dec 6, 2023 3:07 pm | Comments (9)
Yash Roy Photos
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.
by | Dec 5, 2023 9:01 am | Comments (23)
Laura Glesby file photo
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.
Continue reading ‘Advocates To City: Be Bold Again On Immigrant Rights’
by | Nov 27, 2023 11:48 am | Comments (0)
Next: Chris George and successor Maggie Mitchell Salem.
Running a $12 million-a-year nonprofit with 138 staffers helping resettle 1,000 refugees a year is a big enough challenge.
Add to that inheriting the helm of such an effort from a person who made all that possible over 18 years.
by | Aug 23, 2023 1:01 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photo
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.
Continue reading ‘In Fair Haven, Healthcare Expanders Dare To Dream’
by | Jul 27, 2023 8:57 am | Comments (0)
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.
by | Jul 10, 2023 10:48 am | Comments (3)
Brian Slattery Photos
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.
by | Jun 30, 2023 4:25 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed by Jane Kinity
World Refugee Day picnic.
College Woods Park came alive with dance, food, and community last weekend as New Haveners gathered to celebrate World Refugee Day.
by | Jun 30, 2023 3:01 pm | Comments (28)
Laura Glesby photos
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.
Continue reading ‘Alders Block Non-Citizens From Boards For Now’
by | Jun 30, 2023 9:25 am | Comments (72)
Thomas Breen photo
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.
Continue reading ‘Immigrant "Bus" Pulls In To Mayoral Debate’
by | Jun 28, 2023 6:31 pm | Comments (41)
Arts Paper / Lucy Gellman photo
IRIS Executive Director Chris George.
As director of a local refugee and immigrant service agency, IRIS, I have been following the New Haven alders’ discussions about revising the New Haven city charter to remove the requirement that one must be a U.S. citizen in order to serve on a city commission or board.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: Let Immigrants Serve On City Boards’
by | Jun 27, 2023 3:17 pm | Comments (22)
Mia Cortés Castro Photo
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.
by | Jun 21, 2023 2:20 pm | Comments (32)
Laura Glesby photos
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.
by and | Jun 9, 2023 2:33 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photos
Alder Guzhnay (right): It'd be "great for New Haven to be on the front lines."
ULA's John Lugo (right) at workshop about restaurant worker protection proposal.
Should non‑U.S.-citizens be allowed to serve on local government committees like the City Plan Commission or the Board of Library Directors?
And should the Health Department be allowed to crack down on restaurants for committing wage theft or worker harassment?
Continue reading ‘Immigrant Participation, Protections Eyed’
by | May 30, 2023 2:51 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass File Photo
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.
by | Apr 26, 2023 12:15 pm | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen file photo
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.
Continue reading ‘Matos Tapped To Lead National Immigrant Rights Org’
by | Mar 15, 2023 10:52 am | Comments (3)
Paul Bass Photo
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.
Continue reading ‘New Haven Points Way For U.S. Refugee "Welcome" Plan’
by | Mar 2, 2023 3:53 pm | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
Patricia Tynan picked up a coffee to go from the Humphrey Street Dunkin’ on her way into work Thursday, but this time she ordered a decaf.
Continue reading ‘Word On Nicoll Street: Big Picture Comes In Focus’
by | Feb 28, 2023 4:00 pm | Comments (5)
Paul Bass Photo
Tuesday’s snow day gave Huân Ngô time to catch up on grading papers and preparing his students for New Haven’s jobs of tomorrow.
Continue reading ‘The Word On Maple Street: STEM? 'Snow Sweat’
by | Feb 7, 2023 4:15 pm | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen photo
The now-shuttered Andy Restaurant-Bar on Sargent Dr.
A 32-year-old tenant has until the end of the month to move himself, his pregnant wife, and their two children out of their rented single-family home — in his latest setback after closing his Long Wharf restaurant, falling behind on rent at his house, and preparing to file for bankruptcy.
by | Feb 7, 2023 2:50 pm | Comments (4)
The rubble in Diyarbakır, Turkey.
Paul Bass Photo
Stepping up: Kadir Catalbasoglu Tuesday at Brick Oven Pizza.
The tragedy unfolding in his native Turkey prompted Kadir Catalbasoglu to do what he usually does when people need help: He got busy.
Continue reading ‘Pizzeria Raises Dough For Turkish Earthquake Victims’
by | Feb 1, 2023 3:23 pm | Comments (4)
Laura Glesby Photos
Gladys Mwilelo reading to Clemente 6th graders Wednesday.
Jeremiah Pierce and classmates listen to Mwilelo's story.
After reciting a verse she composed herself, Gladys Mwilelo asked the class of curious Roberto Clemente sixth-graders peering back at her: “Do any of you write poems?”
“I share them with my little brother,” answered Yulianisse Féliciano with a wry smile. “He laughs at me.”
Mwilelo knows what it means to offer a voice that no one seems to know how to hear. When she first arrived in New Haven as a refugee, she didn’t know a word of English — and none of her classmates could speak Swahili.
So she responded to Féliciano with encouragement: “I promise you, one day I will be glad to read your poem.”
by | Jan 17, 2023 2:59 pm | Comments (1)
Paul Bass Photo
Boubacar Diallo momentarily locked up his furniture store Tuesday morning to run across the street to make a deposit at New Haven Bank. He’d be right back to try to keep commerce flowing on Whalley Avenue.
Continue reading ‘Word On The Street: How An Olympian Keeps Running’