Immigrants

Nelson Pinos Wins Stay Of Deportation

by | Jul 30, 2021 5:24 pm | Comments (20)

Thomas Breen photo

Nelson Pinos outside First & Summerfield on Friday.

More than 1,330 days after first taking sanctuary at a downtown church, Nelson Pinos can return to his home and his family in the Annex with a small sigh of relief — now that the federal government has decided to temporarily stop trying to deport him to a country he hasn’t lived in for three decades.

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Refugees Gather: “This Is Now Our Family”

by | Jun 21, 2021 9:20 am | Comments (3)

Natalie Kainz Photo

Refugees and friends in East Rock Park Sunday.

Jane and Rahab Kinity at Sunday’s gathering.

Arabic salad, vegetable biryani, Sudanese white beans, and Afghani qabili palau were passed around Sunday to the beat of African drumming — and the tales of more than 35 refugees from eight countries who are now part of one community in New Haven.

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Early-Ed Center Offers Teachers Housing

by | May 31, 2021 9:14 am | Comments (2)

Emily Hays Photos

Cynthia Howard: My apartment looks like a New York loft.

Seven-plus years of work in childcare offered Cynthia Howard no cushion when divorce and surgery costs pushed her into homelessness.

She now has her own apartment again — thanks to her workplace’s efforts to break cycles of poverty in the childcare industry by providing free housing to employees.

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Coalition Aims For “Immigrant Freedom”

by | May 18, 2021 12:14 pm | Comments (9)

Thomas Breen photo

Camille Kritzman and Lizeth Villalobos.

Two years after first traveling from Guatemala to New Haven with little more than hope for better healthcare for her epileptic son, Lizeth Villalobos now has a work permit, a job, an apartment, and an ongoing asylum case.

She also has the support of a team of attorneys and case managers looking out for many local people in similar situations.

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Cop Probed On Immigrant Harassment

by | Apr 28, 2021 5:12 pm | Comments (9)

Thomas Breen Photo

Organizer Kica Matos: “Appalling” case threatens immigrant community’s trust in police.

The police have launched an internal investigation into another complaint involving a cop who had sex with a woman in Fair Haven whom he met on the job.

The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

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March, “Die-In” Back Expanding HUSKY To Undocumented Immigrants

by | Apr 26, 2021 8:50 am | Comments (8)

Madison Hahamy Photo

Attendees participating in a “die-in” in front of City Hall.

With singing, dancing, impassioned testimonies, and the support of multiple lawmakers, New Haven’s immigrant and workers’ rights group Semilla Collective hosted a rally supporting a state’s HUSKY for Immigrants” bill.

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Confused, Couple Fails To Meet Bar For Eviction Moratorium

by | Apr 14, 2021 5:39 pm | Comments (2)

Attorney Elliot Lane, Judge Claudia Baio at hearing.

A tenant’s lack of awareness of rental assistance options, and her husband’s pending immigration status,” led a housing judge to rule that they were ineligible for the CDC’s nationwide eviction moratorium and that they can now be evicted from their home.

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Tour Tells Of Grand Transformations

by | Apr 12, 2021 4:18 pm | Comments (1)

Emily Hays Photos

Al Proto: Grand was the Avenue of the Americas.

A vaudeville theater becomes a church. A church becomes a parole office. An integrated boys’ swim club becomes a swim-focused nonprofit.

A group of dedicated ethnic historians sketched out these transformations and more neighborhood lore in what will eventually become an official Grand Avenue tour.

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Vigil Honors 186 Lost To Covid

by | Mar 23, 2021 9:35 am | Comments (4)

Madison Hahamy Photo

Monday’s vigil outside City Hall.

With chants of cuando peleamos, ganamos” (“when we fight, we win”) and “¿Quién marchó, quién gritó, quién testificó? Nosotros” (“who marched, who yelled, who testified? Us”), activists made a plea not to forget the individuals who have lost their lives due to Covid-19.

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Artist Builds A Dreamworld

by | Mar 3, 2021 10:49 am | Comments (1)

Pages from journals are frozen in midair, as if caught in a photograph of them flying away in a windstorm. A figure emerges from a book, a look of concern on her face. A mirror captures the skyline of a city. They’re all part of a larger show and puppet theater piece called Sueños, by artist Anatar Marmol-Gagné, running in the project room at Artspace through March 20. Together, the elements combine wonder and gritty, emotional realism to tell a story about family chaos and the wrenching effects of immigration that make the political deeply personal.

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No Turning Back After Immigration Executive Orders

by | Feb 8, 2021 10:39 am | Comments (0)

From day one as president, Joe Biden steered U.S. immigration policy away from the xenophobic and harsh direction charted by his predecessor, Donald Trump.

A very important marker is just the shift in tone and rhetoric. We’re no longer talking about people as if they are animals or insects” said Valeria Gomez, the William R. Davis teaching fellow at the University of Connecticut’s Asylum and Human Rights Clinic. I think we can never go back to that.”

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Pandemic Wipes Out Landlord’s Living

by | Feb 5, 2021 4:12 pm | Comments (54)

Thomas Breen photo

Local landlord Galina Zalman: “We only use food banks.”

After taxes, utilities, repairs, and tens of thousands of dollars lost through unpaid rent amid the Covid-19 pandemic, landlord Galina Zalman said she made a total of $2,552 in 2020 — sending her to a food pantry as she struggles to keep three local rental properties afloat.

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Today’s Special: Jamshed’s Lemon Chicken

by | Jan 29, 2021 4:16 pm | Comments (4)

Brian Slattery Photos

Khalid: Never gave up on his vision.

To make the lemon chicken at Ali Baba’s Kitchen, Jamshed Khalid started by cutting boneless chicken breasts into strips. He then marinated it, for at least 12 hours, in a blend of special spices.

I wondered what was in the blend.

Should I tell you?” Khalid responded with a laugh. No.”

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Today’s Special: Ernesto’s Venezuelan Arepa

by | Jan 14, 2021 12:34 pm | Comments (1)

Nora Grace-Flood Photos

Ernesto García at work.

You never stop moving in the kitchen!” Ernesto García remarked as he sliced avocado, cooked tortillas, and directed employees.

Minutes later, one golden arepa filled with black beans, plantains, avocado, tomato, and crispy mozzarella lay plated on the bar of Rubamba, García’s High Street restaurant.

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Forum Call: Boot Cops From Schools

by | Nov 25, 2020 11:11 am | Comments (14)

Ko Lyn Cheang Photo

Mellody Massaquoi at summer demo: SROs make school feel like jail.

New Haven student Jhoaell Ruiz wants police officers out of school buildings. Ruiz’s mother, Sonya-Marie Atkinson, wants them in there.

Both student and parent argued their perspectives not just at home, but at a Tuesday evening forum on the subject held by the New Haven Board of Education’s School Security Taskforce.

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