Hill Ward 3 Co-Chair Lisa Velasquez Torres, local student Melany Yunga, Kica Matos, and Ariadne Benitez. Eli Sabin made a promise on Sunday that, if successful in his bid for a west-side state rep seat, he would fight for the establishment of a state-powered $10 million defense fund to protect i mmigrants and those who stand up for immigrants’ rights. Sabin outlined that policy goal at a press conference held outside the federal courthouse on Church Street. He was accompanied by nationally recognized and locally based immigration rights advocate Kica Matos, local lawyers, and supporters of his policy proposals. Sabin is currently running to represent the 92nd State House district, challenging incumbent Pat Dillon alongside former Hamden local legislator Justin Farmer. The Democratic primary will be held on Aug. 11; Sabin’s Sunday press conference took place the day before the start of early voting on Monday. “The Trump administration has been attacking our neighbors. It’s been threatening and terrorizing our immigrant community here in New Haven,” he said. “I believe that our state government needs to do more to step up and protect our families in this urgent moment.” The center point of the press conference was Sabin’s proposal to create a $10 million “Constitutional Rights Defense Fund” made possible by the state’s Emergency Response Fund or by its projected $320 million budget surplus for the latest fiscal year. The fund would provide legal representation for immigrants facing detention or removal; residents challenging unlawful immigration-enforcement actions; and anyone facing retaliation for immigration-related advocacy. It would make possible the training of lawyers to do this work; provide short-term emergency assistance for necessities in case a family member is detained or deported; know-your-rights education and preparation plans; multilingual hotlines and rapid-response networks; and support interpretation, transportation, and accompaniment services. Local organizations like CT Students for a Dream have been building out a state-wide immigration response and pro bono legal services network. Sabin said the fund would support the continuation of that work, which largely relies on volunteers at this point. In addition to the Constitutional Rights Defense Fund, Sabin called for the passing of a law that would protect Connecticut physicians who provide reproductive health and gender-affirming care telemedicine services to out-of-state patients. Sabin’s third policy proposal is to provide an additional $3 million per year to expand Attorney General William Tong’s antitrust enforcement team, and to require that companies notify the attorney general when a proposed merger would substantially impact residents. One driving force behind the Constitutional Rights Defense Fund is the fact that, as of Friday, a federal contract that funds legal representation for children who entered the country without any guardian has expired. That leaves an estimated 25,000 children without legal services. Unaccompanied children who enter the U.S. are transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). In November, ORR had stopped paying contracted legal groups for their services. Sabin spoke of Camilla, a 5-year-old girl who was in ORR custody for 118 days, including for months in Westville at a nonprofit called Children’s Community Programs of Connecticut, as first reported by CT Insider. She was only able to see her mother, a New Haven resident, for one hour per week. “It was only because lawyers in our state stepped up and sued the Trump administration that she was eventually released back to her mother and reunited with her family, and that is absolutely unacceptable,” he said. Legal representation makes a big difference for whether or not someone is deported; Sabin referenced a study from the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel that found that immigrants with attorneys were more than five times as likely to win relief from removal. “We cannot let our community stand alone,” Sabin said. “We need our state government to use its resources and all of its powers and every tool at its disposal to protect our community and stand up for what’s right.” Ariadne Benitez: “Connecticut needs to step up for my neighborhood.” Ariadne Benitez, a New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) student and lifelong Fair Haven resident, described the fear felt by her community as they received word of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. “Some families became hesitant to send their children to attend school or church on weekends,” she said, even for important religious events like communion and confirmation. Benitez said that while she recognizes the federal government is responsible for enforcing federal immigration laws, she called for humanity and dignity. “Connecticut needs to step up for my neighborhood to make sure no one has to stand up to Trump and ICE’s cruelty alone,” she said. “I strongly support the proposal for the state to provide legal representation to anyone detained by ICE and support their families, and I am excited to work with Eli to pass this.” Matos, a longtime Fair Havener and former deputy mayor, is a national immigrant rights advocate. She serves as the president of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and its Immigrant Justice Fund, and she has been on the frontlines of the fight against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and mass deportations. Matos said that she had worked with Sabin for years, between vaccination outreach efforts in Fair Haven during Covid to advocating for immigrants ahead of the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in office. She said that she and Sabin had been discussing for months what a system that ensured immigrants’ access to counsel might look like. “Here we are, six months later, and the need is more pressing now more than ever,” she said. “Let us see to it that he is elected into office because we need his energy, we need his vision, and we need his commitment to the city and its residents.” Koskoff Koskoff Bieder’s Renee Mihail, alongside fellow lawyer Glenn Formica (left), speaking to the difference legal representation can make in immigration hearings. The post Sabin Pitches $10M “Constitutional Rights Defense Fund” appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less