A federal judge ruled in favor of the defendant and has stopped deportation proceedings against a Danbury family.
The judge said that deporting Tereza Pereira and Carlos Lima would result in an exceptional hardship on their two American-born sons, one of which is an honor student at Danbury High School.
"Thank God it's over, now we can return to peace," Pereira said immediately after the decision.
About a dozen supporters of Pereira and Lima were in the court room. The room erupted in cheers when the judge ruled in favor of the defendant.
Congratulations to the Pereira family! This post is bump to the top in your honor!
As a compliment to the portion of the article that describes Pereira speaking about her ordeal with ICE agents at an immigration forum last year, from the HatCityBLOG archives, here's the actual video footage of Pereira's speech.
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
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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.
You read what happened, now you can watch Tereza Pereira describe her ordeal with ICE agents to the audience at Sunday's Stop the Raids forum.
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.
