The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in Connecticut spoke out against what they claim is racial profiling of Latino communities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement the week after President Trump was sworn in. After seeing a detention on the island, reggaeton singer Bad Bunny openly humiliated ICE during the summer. The renowned Nuyorican Lin Manuel Miranda, a Wesleyan alum, recently used the tenth anniversary of his Broadway blockbuster, Hamilton, to raise money for immigrants.
Puerto Ricans are joining the growing number of Latinos in Connecticut who oppose the immigration crackdown.
Not just Latinos attended the event calling for the repatriation of a Guatemalan high school student who was detained by ICE in July.
The priest-in-charge of Wooster Square’s St. Paul and St. James Episcopal Church is Rev. Nathan Empsall. He claims that volunteers at the church’s food bank and clothing closet indicate that ICE worries are to blame for the recent decline in attendance.
He assured rallygoers that if this was about upholding the law and justice as the authoritarians claim, they wouldn’t be detaining our eleventh graders, they wouldn’t target Puerto Rican areas, and they wouldn’t arrest individuals outside courthouses.
Empsall claims that he was alluding to incidents that had been reported in comparable localities, such as the arrest of a Puerto Rican veteran in January in Newark and the July appearance of a dozen ICE officers outside a Puerto Rican museum in Chicago.
James Covington, a spokesman for ICE Boston, told Connecticut Public that these lies are merely meant to instigate violence and terror against our courageous agents. According to him, the notion that ICE is specifically targeting Puerto Rican communities within the state is not only dangerous and absurd, but it is also untrue.
The racial profiling that is currently taking place and being promoted by ICE is what I consider to be absurd and dangerous, stated Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center.
Matos, a Puerto Rican, has spent more than 20 years living and working in Connecticut as an advocate.
I will personally tell you that I have received numerous calls from Puerto Ricans who want to travel to Puerto Rico and are worried about the experience they will have and the potential for them to be stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They ask me if they should bring their passports, she said.
Why? Because of Newark, Chicago; the Philadelphia Puerto Rican restaurant raid; and the Milwaukee Puerto Rican family arrested while shopping.
There are instances of Puerto Ricans being held all around the nation. According to Matos, this is the reason why Latinos, Puerto Ricans, and Black and brown people feel terrified. The degree of dread persists even when they reap the benefits of US citizenship.
At celebrations, worries proliferate.
At the downtown Hartford Salsa Meets Jazz Festival, Elba and Carmelo Valle were very terrified. After that, half of their group of Puerto Rican friends went to Parkville Market to continue the celebration. However, a story began to circulate that ICE was present and making arrests during a Peruvian event at the market that day.
Who knows where it might occur? “Elba said.” If we observe that, it is simply the rage. Anger is what it is. It is incorrect. I don’t think the approach they’re taking is appropriate.
A typical objection to the new deportations, raised by Carmelo, is that ICE is dividing families.
Elba concurred that families are being split up. It’s devastating.
It turns out that EMS was only attending to a medical emergency at Parkville Market that day. However, many Latinos are being kept at home by the growing concern that any official in uniform could be ICE, and several Puerto Ricans are wondering what their part is in all of this.
How can we proceed? “Elba said.” Is there anything we can do but become closer? Do you understand what I mean? Come as a family and as a community to, you know, try to lend a hand.
Authorities denounce the targeting of Latinos.
“As a national organization with roots in the Puerto Rican diaspora, we know firsthand the importance of family unity, community stability, and the struggle for dignity and inclusion,” the National Puerto Rican Agenda said in a statement. Despite the fact that Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States, we will not stand by and watch while our immigrant brothers and sisters are treated inhumanely.
Christopher Rosario, a state representative from Connecticut, agrees. He represents numerous Puerto Ricans in Bridgeport and is a member of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus.
According to Rosario, Puerto Rico consistently receives second-class treatment from the federal government, so even if we people shouldn’t have to worry about anything, it’s simply the same.
Rosario claims to have heard about American citizens being held, even for a short time, in other states.
“We must call it out and work with our federal authorities to ensure that this doesn’t happen anytime there is an incident where a Puerto Rican, or anyone, for that matter, is detained or held by ICE,” he said.
Festivals make a statement
Puerto Ricans in Connecticut have also used their money to protest ICE.
One of the least expensive methods to go directly from New Haven to San Juan to see family members on the island is via Avelo Airlines. However, pro-immigrant demonstrators and the organization Puerto Ricans United voiced their opposition to the move after Avelo agreed to operate deportation aircraft for the Trump administration. Joe Rodriguez serves as the National Puerto Rican Agenda’s vice president and president of PRU.
Our community comes first. And by “community,” Rodriguez meant the New Haven community, not only the Puerto Rican community. Because our community has supported us during times of need, such as Hurricane Maria and other natural disasters, we must be there for our brothers and sisters when they reach out to us for assistance.
Every year, PRU puts on a Puerto Rican festival in New Haven, and Avelo has sponsored it for the past two years. The board of PRU unanimously decided to sever connections this year.
In light of our organization’s identity, values, and principles, we believed it was only fitting to support our immigrant brothers and sisters and declare, “No, we’re not going to do it,” before we ever start talking about it at all.
Andrew Levy, the founder and CEO of Avelo, described the decision to operate deportation flights as a delicate and complex subject in an email statement to NPR.
He stated, “After careful consideration, we have decided that this charter flying will give us the stability to keep growing our core scheduled passenger service and retain our more than 1,100 crew members for years to come.”
Rodriguez claims that in order to avoid supporting a contractor for deportation flights, many Puerto Ricans are now prepared to make the extra effort to drive to other airports and spend more money.
