Aliyya Swaby Photo
Harp, at left, with schools chief Garth Harries and Police Chief Dean Esserman at last week’s rally.
Toni Harp inherited the mayoralty of a “sanctuary city” — and she plans to keep it that way.
New Haven, she said, has federal agents on notice in case they come busting down immigrants’ doors in hopes of hauling them away and out of the country.
“They know that here in New Haven we are watching them, and we are going to hold them accountable,” Harp declared.
The mayor made the remarks Monday on the latest edition of “Mayor Monday” on WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven program.
She was asked on the program about her decision last week to address a Fair Haven rally organized by immigrant-rights activists in response to a new wave of federal deportation raids. Harp told the crowd at the rally that New Haven will not cooperate with the feds if asked, the way some cities’ law enforcement agencies do. She supported the efforts of activists to advise families of their rights when approached by agents.
So far, the latest raids haven’t included any sweeps in New Haven. But even the prospect of them sowed fear through out Fair Haven, a neighborhood home to many immigrants. People still remember when Fair Haven became a ghost town in 2007 after federal agents — acting on the heels of New Haven’s passage of a immigrant-friendly municipal ID card program — swept through the neighborhood and wrested 32 undocumented immigrants from their homes.
Since then, New Haven has earned a national reputation as a sanctuary city, thanks to the ID cards, a police order barring officers form inquiring about a person’s immigration status in most instances, and a general welcoming of newcomers shunned in some other communities. Harp took office in 2014 after those policies were put in place.
In discussing her decision to address last week’s rally, Harp suggested that federal agents remember those 2007 raids well, too — and that that might explain why none have shown up in town this time around.
“This is a very organized community,” she noted. “[Immigrants here] have great legal help. They [the feds] lost most of their cases [in 2007]. Yale’s law clinic worked on behalf of the families. Almost every one of them is back in our community,” with other arrestees’ cases still pending and being challenged.
Harp said she felt it was important to let immigrant families in town know that the New Haven government supports them, that they don’t have reason to fear encountering local police or attending local schools.
“People are a afraid in our town” because of the federal raids, she said. They’re afraid to send their kids to school. They’re afraid to go out and do their nomral shopping. Grand Avenue was very quiet.
“These threats, these raids should not impact our normal lives. Kids need to be in school. Kids need to know that in New Haven, school is a safe place. Families need to know that as well.
“I wanted to let them know that we are still as sanctuary city. It doesn’t tmatter to us in our school system how you got here. Our police won’t be [asking] that either. You are our neighbors. You are peole who contribute to our eocnomy in many ways. We are not going to have you feeling fear, feeling theratened, in our community.”
She noted the efforts the police department has made to earn immigrants’ trust so they feel comfortable enough to report crimes. Actions like federal raids have the potential of “undermining” that hard-won trust, she said.
Asked about critics’ suggestion that New Haven was defying the law, Harp noted that immigration is a federal, not a local, responsibility. “We are the municipal government,” she said. “We are staying in our lane.”
Click on or download the above sound file to hear the full “Mayor Monday” episode. The discussion about immigration begins at 36:24.
Today’s episode of “Dateline New Haven” was made possible in part through financial support from Gateway Community College.