Paul Bass Photo
Blumenthal and Pinos at Thursdsay’s rally.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and deportation-defier Nelson Pinos found themselves standing beside each other again in the latest chapter in an ongoing quest to allow hard-working undocumented immigrants to remain in the country.
They did so in front of the Cinque station outside City Hall Thursday at a rally calling for Congress to include a path to citizenship for five million undocumented workers in upcoming negotiations on the $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” budget resolution plan currently working its way through Congress.
Blumethal first stood beside Pinos two blocks away, on the steps of First & Summerfield Church, in 2017. That’s when Pinos, with the support of local immigration reform advocates, defied a deportation order and found sanctuary inside the church. Blumenthal vowed to support Pinos and others targeted by a deportation crackdown.
Last month Pinos won a stay of deportation more than 1,330 days after first taking sanctuary at the downtown church. He’s now fighting for the right to remain in the country where he has spent the past his adult life, working hard and paying taxes.
Blumenthal vowed at the rally to “fight with every breath I have” to include the pathway to citizenship in upcoming budget reconciliation negotations in the Senate.
The provision would allow an estimated five million undocumented immigrants — including health care workers, home aides, custodians, farmworkers, immigrants awaiting citizenship with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — a path to becoming U.S. citizens. The U.S. House of Representatives included the provision in the version of the “Build Back Better” economic-recovery budget framework it passed recently. The Senate did not include that provision in the initial blueprint it passed. Blumenthal promised to join colleagues fighting to include it in the final version.
Pinos: “This is the time.”
“Four of five undocumented immigrants could not stay home during the pandemic, because they were essential workers,” Pinos told the dozens of people assembled for the rally, which was organized by Unidad Latina en Acción, the 32BJ SEIU custodial union, and SEIU District 1199 healthcare workers union, Connecticut Domestic Worker Justice Campaign, National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), Connecticut TPS Committee, CT Shoreline Indivisible, New Sanctuary CT, CT Workers Center, Comunidades Sin Fronteras, Black and Brown United in Action.
“They are an essential component of the labor force and the economy. This is the time; this is the year” to accomplish immigration reform that allows them to emerge from the shadows and gain citizenship, said Pinos.
Pinos, a 47-year-old former factory worker, married father of three, and undocumented immigrant, first came to the United States from Ecuador in 1992. He spoke about working hard, paying taxes, during decades here, then spending four years in sanctuary at the church. Even now, said Pinos, a father of three, “I live in constant worry that my life and the lives of my children will be torn apart.”
Blumenthal said the story of “my friend Nelson” reminds him of his father, who left Germany in 1935 to come to the United States. “He spoke no English,” he said of his father. “He knew no one. This country gave him a chance to succeed.”
“We are a nation of immigrants,” Blumenthal continued. “Nelson is one of us.” Of the five million immigrants who would benefit from success in the upcoming budget resolution talks, he said, “We will fight for you like we fought for Nelson.”
Rally leader John Lugo fires up the crowd.