The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Communities plan as sanctuary city status threatened
NEW HAVEN >> Since the election of Donald Trump, mayors like Mayor Toni Harp have grappled with the president-elect’s promise to end funding for socalled sanctuary cities.
A sanctuary city is an informal designation that in New Haven means local police don’t typically ask for legal status when conducting investigations or enforce federal immigration laws.
For Harp, it’s meant reminders of this challenge keep showing up at the doorsteps of her office at City Hall.
Harp met with members a local grassroots immigrant advocacy group, Unidad Latina en Accion, shortly after the election. The private meeting was held on Nov. 17 and resulted in the formation of an ad-hoc committee to provide further community input for her administration. More recently T, a group of nearly 100 students came to her office and handed her a letter, asking for Harp — who is the president of the Board of Education — to turn New Haven Public Schools into sanctuary schools. A rally at City Hall, just steps away from Harp’s office, was also held Dec. 13 to call for the protection of undocumented immigrants from potential deportations.
“When I was their age, I marched for civil rights issues,” Harp said. “So I understand that they want to have their feelings known.”
The committee created last month will also provide information to Interim Superintendent of Schools Reginald Mayo. Harp and Mayo are strategizing by preparing for the worst. They’re exploring what would happen next in the event that immigration raids were to take parents and separate them from their children.
Harp and Mayo’s planning is not quite as personal as it is for Jose, a local father whose daily reminders from his own children fuel a very real thought that he may end up leaving this country soon. Jose declined to give his legal status, but last week, along with three other parishioners at St. Rose de Lima in Fair Haven, he spoke about New Haven’s sanctuary city status. He also did not give his last name.
“I think the majority of us believe we are welcomed in New Haven and in all of Connecticut,” Jose said in Spanish. “But I don’t believe New Haven is a sanctuary city.”
Planning ahead
Jose, and the three others, Armando, Jeimy and Etelvina are all originally from Mexico and Central American countries. New Haven had one ICE raid in 2007, but most who were detained were later released. So their strategy, similar to the city’s, is to prepare. Their form of preparation involves community support and involvement.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Jose said. “(We are) preparing and taking precautions for my family and community.”
The tradition of offering sanctuary dates back centuries, to churches in Europe that offered reprieve from war for vulnerable people, St. Rose de Lima’s the Rev. James Manship said. It’s perhaps this kind of sentiment that motivates people to support immigrants and sanctuary cities.
“I think it’s a profound expression of solidarity, of standing with people who are vulnerable,” Manship said.
But there’s another, less romanticized aspect of sanctuary cities.
“In a practical sense, the government does not respect sanctuary. It’s not a concept that is part of law here,” Manship said.
Jeimy said for her, one of the reasons New Haven is such a great city is because of its abundance of diversity. This signals to her that it’s very much a welcoming city, she said. All four said the involvement of their parish in the 28-member congregational group CONECT is helping them discover how many other groups, like the Jewish and African-Americans communities, are feeling concerns over the election of Trump. CONECT is made up of several local churches and temples that focus on community involvement to address social justice issues.
Speaking to children about potential deportations isn’t easy, but Jose said it’s necessary to keep them informed, since often, they’re the ones facing or hearing remarks about what may happen. There are concerns that comments and quips, coupled with media attention, heard at school could have a psychological effect on how children perceive themselves.
“We have to answer them with the truth,” Jose said. “What will a 10-year-old think when he’s Latino?”
Unity is a common theme among groups tasked with helping immigrants understand what lies ahead. Four ULA members were included in the committee created after the Nov. 17 meeting. Guatemalan immigrant and city resident Edgar Sandoval was among those chosen to represent ULA. He’s lived in New Haven for 27 years and is a legal resident of the United States.
Creation of such a committee is among the kind of steps that many feel could help provide some peace of mind for the city’s undocumented population, some who see the election of Trump as a step toward one of their worst fears: A socalled raid from federal authorities that would round them up and deport them.
Not everyone supports New Haven’s sanctuary status or the ability of immigrants who entered the country illegally to remain here.
However, it’s unlikely that Trump’s plan to deport criminal undocumented immigrants will involve mass deportations, according to Roy Beck, CEO of Numbers USA, an immigration reduction group that advocates for less legal and illegal immigration in the United States based on economic concerns, reducing refugee and visa fraud and ending visa “overstays.” He speaks frequently about Trump’s plan and how it will be deployed, which he said will likely not include massive raids.