A controversial group that advocates against immigration wants to boost its presence in Connecticut by forming chapters, including one in the Stamford area.
Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, which has been most active in Danbury since forming in April, plans to hold a number of organizational meetings in the fall, including one for Stamford, Greenwich, Darien and Norwalk in October. The group, which opposes illegal and legal immigration, has caused controversy in several Connecticut towns where it has met, prompting protests and the formation of one immigrants' rights group.
Connecticut Citizens hopes to form chapters in Stamford, Stratford, New Haven, Meriden, Torrington, Norwich and New London, co-director Paul Streitz said. Most of the 250 members on the group's mailing list live in Danbury, followed by Waterbury and Hartford, he said.
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Philip Berns, a Stamford attorney who represents immigrants, said Connecticut Citizens is a "racist, anti-immigrant hate group." The group will find interested members in any city, Berns said, but he does not think most Stamford residents will support it.
"There is a small minority of people in Stamford who are going to be very welcoming to the distorted message that immigrants are criminals, that they refuse to become legal, that they refuse to learn the language, that they come here to take, take, take and not give anything," Berns said. "But one of the things that Stamford has that Danbury sadly does not have is we have a mayor who looks at local problems and looks for local solutions to those problems and sees the huge opportunity that the presence of these immigrants gives us."
Amen to that. Danbury Mayor Boughton is the ultimate flip-flopper who only got critical over the immigrants once his political base criticized him over his proposal to make a place in the center of town where the day laborers to gather and lessen the congestion on Kennedy St.
Once his political base was upset (and seeing that it was an election year) he changed his position and called for the state police to round up the illegal immigrants and went on a media blitz saying that there were up to 15,000 illegal people in the city and they were the draining city resources (FYI: the population of Danbury is aprox 79,000 which would means that based on Boughton's estimate, illegals account for 15-16 percent of the population which any person from hat City can tell you is laughable (take 79,000 and add 15,000 and that gives you 94,000. Now take 15,000 and divide that against 94,000 and that gives you Boughton's so-called percentage of illegals in Danbury).
Boughton has yet to provide any evidence that would back up his claim that resources are being drained and has done nothing but use the immigration issue to hide from his own shortcomings as mayor such as the overdevelopment of the city with new condos being built every day, traffic congestion at an all-time high, lack of a police contract which is reason officers are leaving the city, ising taxes, etc. Boughton's rhetoric has created the monster called the CTCIC and not only should the mayor and the CTCIC should be held accountable for their actions, but both should be greeted by protest at every given opportunity as their views don't represent the majority of people in this great city.
Note to Stramford: do yourself a favor and boot the hate group out of your city!
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
