Six weeks after more than 1,000 immigrants marched down Main Street to demand respect from the mayor, he is taking steps to stop their sometimes raucous volleyball games, which officials say are occasions for illegal enterprise.
The evening games, a passion among Danbury's growing population of Ecuadorean immigrants, sometimes draw more than 100 people to backyards in otherwise quiet residential neighborhoods. After a nighttime sweep by code enforcement officers on July 23, city workers issued cease-and-desist orders for seven properties.
"What we shut down was seven illegal businesses that happened to have volleyball as their draw for selling food and alcohol," Sean P. Hearty, the city's permit officer, said of the backyard games.
Mr. Hearty and other city officials said they also found overcrowded apartments, cars parked illegally on neighboring yards and fire and building code violations, including nets rising more than 20 feet over backyard fences - to keep the volleyball in the yard - and extension cords buried below ground to power lights for night games.
While the sweeps that Saturday night were a first, they reflected persistent tension in a city that has become a battleground in the national debate over illegal immigration in smaller cities and suburbs.
In April, Mayor Mark D. Boughton asked the state to seek federal permission to deputize state police officers to enforce federal immigration laws in the city. On June 12, a coalition of Ecuadorean immigrants led a mile-long march on a stretch of Main Street whose storefronts, once empty, have been transformed with new Hispanic and Brazilian businesses.
[...]
Critics, including some marchers, have said Mr. Boughton is biased against immigrants and using the issue for political gain. In an interview on Thursday at City Hall, the mayor, a Republican who announced his candidacy for a third term on July 25, rejected the claims and said he wanted to make sure "the issue doesn't get driven down to a racial issue."
As he has in the past, he blamed a "failed federal policy" that leaves local officials with few tools to deal with the pressures of immigration at the neighborhood level. Mr. Boughton said he had spoken with officials in other states, including California and New York, and that he hoped to create a coalition of mayors who would work toward immigration reform.
For now, Danbury has responded with stricter code enforcement.
[...]
Working with Danbury police officers, the team, which includes enforcement officers from the city's fire, building, zoning and health and housing divisions, cited seven private homes and apartment houses. City officials said they visited properties during the games, identified themselves, asked homeowners if they could enter the properties, then spoke casually with people who, for example, told them they had paid 50 cents for a beer and $5 for a plate of chicken or pork.
"We're not targeting a certain demographic," said Timothy J. Bunting, the assistant zoning enforcement officer. "We're targeting problem areas."
Mr. Hearty, the permit officer, said no arrests were made, nor were fines issued. City officials have said in the past that backyard volleyball games have involved gambling and drugs, though no such activities were cited in the recent sweep.
Seems like the "born and raised" people of Danbury are getting their wish for now but I like how the Times exposed one of the locals rumors that certain people and city officals running for re-election have been saying which is that immigrants' activities encourages crimes like drugs and prostitution. This and other rumors is the most frequent thing you hear from people and groups which want the immigrants off of Main Street and kicked out of town (kind of like what they did to a majority of the low income Africam-Americans with the projects which arelocated far away from any major street (besides the one on Main which was a major eye-sore for many years).
Since it's an election year, Boughton is simply scoring political points by raising the stakes in teh immigrant situation and making this his number one priority (although immigrants have been in the city for years).
Whether his actions will result in votes reamins to be seen but the democrats in the area better get their act together soon and make a stance for or against Boughton's political actions. If I was a democrat seekeing office, I wouldn't just allow Boughton to get all this free press and free exposure.
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.
