Tale Of Latinos In Two Connecticut Cities

If you take I-95 east, from New Haven, Connecticut, it’s hard to tell where that city ends and East Haven begins. But if you’re Latino you’d do well to know the difference.

One city, New Haven, has opened its arms wide and is bringing them around to embrace immigrants of all nations. In blatant defiance of the anti-immigrant feelings that have taken hold of our national conversation, the Mayor of New Haven, John DeStephano, has taken his town in the opposite direction. Four years ago, as Time.com noted, he:

…helped illegal immigrants come out of the shadows…when he launched a first-of-its-kind program to give them city resident cards.

Now he’s going on step further, he wants to give immigrants the right to vote in local elections, regardless of their status.

“We’re a place of differences,” he said. “We’re a place that sees a strength and places a value on welcoming folks from all over.”

So take the idea of sanctuary cities, pump it full of steroids, and you get an idea of what DeStephano is thinking. According to Time, more than 70 cities across the nation are keeping a healthy distance from questioning people about their resident status if they haven’t been arrested. The prevailing thought among conservative circles is that every and all persons arrested, detained or suspected of anything should be interrogated as to their citizenship and/or immigrant status.

That’s exactly what the town down I-95 from New Haven is doing. East Haven has caught the attention of the Justice Department which, on Monday, pointed a telling finger at the police department for, according to CNN, engaging in a pattern of widespread discrimination against Latinos in violation of the Constitution and federal law. The DOJ says that in East Haven it’s not just about immigrants, it’s about Latinos in particular:

“We find that EHPD engages in discriminatory policing against Latinos, including but not limited to targeting Latinos for discriminatory traffic enforcement, treating Latino drivers more harshly than non-Latino drivers after a traffic stop, and intentionally and woefully failing to design and implement internal systems of control that would identify, track, and prevent such misconduct,” Assistant Attorney General Thomas J. Perez wrote in a 23-page letter to the East Haven mayor, detailing the results of a two-year investigation.

Roughly 10% of East Haven’s residents are Latino, but close to 20% of all traffic stops in that city are Latino drivers. When you consider that the total population of East Haven, proper, is about 29,000, you begin to get a picture of what the EHPD might be up to. Its neighbor to the west, New Haven, is welcoming immigrants, so they’re making it a point to send the opposite message: you’re not welcome here, don’t even drive through here.

There’s a movement among conservatives to ban sanctuary cities, like New Haven, that protect undocumented immigrants – all Republican presidential candidates tout this as one of their major points, and say that sanctuary cities should lose their federal funding.  East Haven, on the other hand, is on verge of precisely that outcome.

The Justice Department said it will meet with community leaders, as well with as municipal agencies to address the concerns raised in the report. But the federal agency also made clear that the United States may suspend or terminate federal funding if the town fails to address the civil rights violations.

We’ll keep an eye on this, an keep you posted.