The feds claim they were looking for two Mexican immigrants when they stormed into Fair Haven last year. They ended up arresting 15.
Those numbers come from a chart contained in another batch of internal documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents relate to the June 6, 2007, raid by federal immigration agents that led to the arrests of 31 immigrants allegedly living in New Haven without legal permission. Two local immigrant-advocacy groups, Junta for Progressive Action and Unidad Latino en Acción, recently won federal and state rulings entitling them to review internal federal documents related to the raid. Last week much of that material was released, suggesting anew that the raid may have been in retaliation for New Haven’s decision to issue immigrant-friendly ID cards. (Read about that release here.)
The federal Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly said that it conducted the raids not to punish the city, but to execute warrants on known criminals and fugitives. City officials and immigrants’ activists accused them of sweeping through Fair Haven, busting into the homes of sleeping families, and terrorizing children, all in a random act of opposition to the ID plan.
Whatever the real intentions, the raid did turn out to be a random exercise, as demonstrated by a chart contained in a new batch of released documents.
The chart breaks down those arrested (including several in North Haven) by alleged country of origin. Then it lists how many were originally targets of the raid, meaning there warrants out for them.
The chart shows that 15 Mexicans were detained. Yet only two had been original targets.
Similarly, seven Ecuadorians were detained. Four had been targets.
On the other hand, they feds targeted eight Guatemalans, and ended up arresting only two.
“They really missed their mark,” New Haven Community Services Administrator Kica Matos, the architect of the city’s immigrant-friendly policies, commented Monday. “They either did a bad job — or they didn’t do what they set out to do.”