Former Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh: “This is our city and Trump will not dictate our freedom.” A former federal prosecutor and a former Yale Law School dean have agreed to represent the city pro bono in defending New Haven against a Trump administration lawsuit that seeks to overturn a p olicy that limits local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The federal Department of Justice filed that lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut on April 13 in a case entitled United States of America v. State of Connecticut. The other named defendants in the case include Gov. Ned Lamont, state Attorney General William Tong, the City of New Haven, and Mayor Justin Elicker. The feds’ lawsuit seeks to overturn New Haven’s “Welcoming City” executive order, signed by Elicker in July 2020. The Trump administration is arguing that this executive order and a similar state law called the TRUST Act are “sanctuary policies” that violate the U.S. Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause” by unduly inhibiting federal immigration enforcement at the state and local level. On Tuesday at City Hall, Mayor Justin Elicker announced that the city has tapped Chris Mattei of Koskoff, Koskoff Bieder and Harold Koh of Yale Law School’s Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic to lead the way in defending New Haven in this ongoing federal court case. Standing alongside city Corporation Counsel Allie Jacobs, Elicker said said that the city is confident that the “Welcoming City” executive order is legal and will withstand the federal government’s attack. The executive order states that city employees, including police officers, shall not ask about someone’s immigration status or work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “unless required by state or federal law,” Elicker said. The intent of the executive order is to encourage all people, regardless of their immigration status, to come forward if they need to report a crime or want to take advantage of another city service. This executive order does not stop the federal government from undertaking immigration-enforcement work, Elicker said. But “we do not do the job of the federal government” for them. One such provision of New Haven’s “Welcoming City” executive order states in full: “No New Haven officer or City employee shall engage in activities designed to ascertain a person’s immigration status unless required by state or federal law.” Another relevant part of the city’s executive order states: “No New Haven officer or City employee shall use agency or department resources, including but not limited to monies, facilities, property, equipment or personnel to investigate, enforce or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal program requiring registration of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or national or ethnic origin.” Elicker also said on Tuesday that New Haven is “being targeted because we have been vocal” in criticizing the Trump administration’s policies around immigration and climate change. The Elicker administration has signed on as a plaintiff to five different lawsuits against the Trump administration over the past year. The mayor said on Tuesday that other Connecticut municipalities, including Hartford and Hamden and New London, have similar policies to New Haven’s “Welcoming City” executive order — but they have not been named as defendants in this federal lawsuit. “We will not be intimidated into submission,” Elicker said. “We will stand up for our values.” Jacobs, who stepped into the role of top city attorney earlier this month, described the Trump administration’s lawsuit as “baseless litigation.” She noted that various lawyers filed appearances in federal court Monday on behalf of the city and the mayor. The city has also requested that the judge who will be presiding over this case, Alvin Thompson, grant the city an extra 60 days to file a full response to the Trump administration’s lawsuit. One of the lawyers who has newly filed an appearance on behalf of New Haven and Elicker is Mattei, a former federal prosecutor who helped secure ex-Gov. John Rowland’s second corruption conviction. Mattei also ran for the Democratic nomination for state attorney general in 2018. He now works for the firm Koskoff, Koskoff, Bieder, where he has represented some of the families of victims of the Sandy Hook mass shooting in their defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones. (Mattei’s Koskoff colleagues Margaret Donovan and Colin Antaya have also filed appearances in the case on behalf of New Haven and Elicker.) Mattei also asserted that New Haven’s “Welcoming City” executive order is “fully compliant with the law by its own terms.” He said that he has agreed to take on New Haven’s defense pro bono — that is, without the city paying him or his firm any money — because his firm has “a duty” to serve victims of “constitutional overreach.” “We’re Americans first and lawyers second,” he said. Thus the civic imperative of standing up for New Haven in this case. Koh, a former Yale Law School dean and Clinton administration and Obama administration official, said the same. While Koh has not officially filed an appearance in the court case, he said that he and his Yale Law School clinic will be assisting Mattei and his colleagues in New Haven’s defense. “What the president is doing is illegal,” Koh said. “He has no authority to single people out for punishment” because they criticize him or disagree with him. Koh, who has lived in New Haven since 1961 and who is the son of a “Korean political exile” who sought refuge in the city, said he was one of the first New Haveners to pick up an Elm City resident ID card when that immigrant-friendly program first launched two decades ago. He also said that the Yale Law School clinic he helps lead has 45 students, some of the brightest laws students in the country. “This is our city,” Koh said, “and Trump will not dictate our freedom.” City Corporation Counsel Allison Jacobs: City will prevail against this “baseless litigation.” Other speakers at Tuesday’s presser included IRIS’ Maggie Mitchell Salem … … and CT Students for a Dream’s Andrea Sanchez. The post Mattei, Koh To Defend New Haven Against Feds’ “Sanctuary” Suit appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less