Victory for solidarity with immigrant rights

The Hartford City Council unanimously voted to adopt an ordinance on Aug. 11 that effectively removes Connecticut’s capital city from the business of enforcing federal immigration laws. Mayor Eddie Perez must still sign the ordinance, but the vote is an enormous step forward for the immigrant rights movement in Connecticut.

The new law has several parts.

First, it affirms that all city services are available to all city residents, regardless of immigration status. Second, it bars any city employees from inquiring about a person’s immigration status and treats immigration status, like other forms of personal information, as confidential information that city employees cannot disclose—including to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Third, it bars Hartford police officers from asking witnesses to or victims of crime about their immigration status. Fourth, it affirms that the Hartford police will not detain a person based on either immigration status or the existence of an ICE administrative warrant.

The ordinance was developed by the Hartford Immigrant Rights Coalition and introduced by Councilperson Luis Cotto, who was elected last November as a Working Families Party candidate. At a public hearing in July, nearly 150 people turned out to support the ordinance, with no less than 48 speakers making favorable comments. Not a single person spoke in opposition.

In the final minutes of discussion at the Aug. 11 meeting, Councilperson Pedro Segarra commented on the earlier hearing. Recognizing the diversity of the people who spoke out in favor of making Hartford an immigrant-friendly city and referring to the city’s official slogan, “Hartford—New England’s Rising Star,” Segarra remarked that if Hartford’s communities could come together around other issues the way that they did on the immigrant rights ordinance, “then we really would be on the way to being the rising star of New England.”

The council meeting was a lesson in just that kind of solidarity. A majority of the people packed into the sweltering City Council chambers were there to demand that the city reopen two branches of the Hartford Public Library that had recently been shut down due to funding issues as well as to support the immigration ordinance. Residents and grassroots activists from both HIRC and the North Hartford Coalition applauded each others speakers and, while the immigrant rights ordinance was being discussed and debated, community activists worked with council members to hammer out a resolution that would reopen the Blue Hills and Mark Twain library branches.

Both victories came at the conclusion of a meeting that had lasted for more than four hours. Near the end of the meeting, Councilperson Cotto held up copies of both the library resolution and the immigration ordinance, stating, “It’s important for people to understand that we got this”—holding up a copy of the library resolution—“in part because we took the time to do this”—holding up the immigration ordinance.

Peter Goselin is the coordinator of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a national network of human rights lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers.