City To Immigrants: Know Your Rights

New Haven will protect immigrants, regardless of legal status, during a second Trump administration.

More than two dozen city officials, alders and immigrant rights advocates gathered in Fair Haven Friday afternoon to send that message — as they highlighted the city’s newly updated resource guide for new residents, which includes sections on the legal rights available to undocumented New Haveners. 

The press conference took place at the Atwater Senior Center. 

It came less than 72 hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration. The president-elect-again has pledged to end birthright citizenship and pursue ​“mass deportations” when he takes office, both efforts his administration is already preparing for. 

According to Mayor Justin Elicker, New Haven’s city government will not help in those efforts to the fullest extent legally possible, and is currently retraining all city staff on New Haven’s immigration policies.

The city operates under a ​“Welcoming City” executive order that Elicker signed in 2020. That order prohibits city employees from inquiring about someone’s immigration status, disclosing confidential information, or using city resources to assist in an investigation unless compelled by state or federal law. The city also does not coordinate with federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE).

Police Chief Karl Jacobson reinforced that message Friday, noting that New Haven police have been prohibited from asking about immigration status since 2006 and that he has finished retraining the force on those orders in light of the incoming presidential administration.

“Part of our specific orders is that we do not ask about immigration status, and that is because it’s the right thing to do, but also because we need people to build trust with us,” Jacobson said. ​“We want you to call the police no matter what your immigration status is. We want everybody, every resident of this community, to feel safe and feel protected by the police and to be able to talk to the police.” 

Another central message of the presser was for people to make sure they knew their rights under Connecticut law, especially when interacting with ICE agents.

Ben Haldeman, an immigration staff attorney at the New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA), stressed that anyone with questions should reach out to them, IRIS or private attorneys for Know Your Rights training, as well as to get legal consults on their legal status.

“Most importantly, find a reliable source of information. Things are going to be changing, they’re going to be changing quickly, and you need to know where to go and what you can do to protect yourself and your family,” Haldeman said.

Fatima Rojas, a member of the Semilla Collective, said the group is working on community engagement efforts as part of a volunteer team with the city, with the goal of bringing Know Your Rights training into people’s homes and training people to teach their friends and family, in order to spread information as widely as possible. 

“Can you just imagine, in six months, having 50 people from our community, doing Know Your Rights training at home?” Rojas asked, predicting it would reach hundreds of people.

Multiple speakers also touted the city’s newly resource guide for new residents, which can be read in English here, and in Spanish here.

The guide includes a summary of New Haven’s Welcoming City executive order, recommendations on what documents and other information to carry on you (e.g. a valid work permit or visa; a family member’s phone number), and what to do or say if an ICE agent shows up to your door (e.g. ​“I will remain silent until I speak to an attorney.”) The document also includes lists of healthcare, food, shelter and legal resources.

But for all they have done to prepare, city leaders admitted that with a legal landscape that might shift rapidly and unpredictably in the coming months, there is a limit to what they can do. 

“I think I’d say yes,” Elicker said when asked by this reporter if the city had a plan if ICE raids began next week. ​“But we don’t coordinate with ICE, so we would not know if that happens, and we will not intervene, because the federal government legally can come into the community. But we wouldn’t have our officers involved, that’s not our role.”

Also in attendance at the senior center (though not invited alongside other immigrant activists, in a move he described as ​“strange”) was Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA) leader John Lugo, who said while the resources provided were good, he thought Elicker had not done enough to protect immigrants currently in New Haven from wage theft and evictions.

“I think it’s good that they are saying that they’re going to defend the community. But I think the question is when they’re asked, ​‘what is going to happen if an [ICE] raid happens?’, it’s just like they don’t have an answer,” Lugo said. 

Lugo also criticized the Board of Alders for not codifying the mayor’s ​“Welcoming City” order into a more permanent city ordinance, a demand ULA has been organizing around for more than a year. 

For Rojas, a big concern is a lack of urgency among undocumented residents surrounding the threat of deportation.

“It’s interesting because [reactions are] mixed. There’s a lot of uncertainty around should I save my kids, what’s going to happen,” she said. ​“But a lot of people right now are thinking that we already had [Trump’s presidency], we were able to live with that for four years, we are going to do it this time.”