10 immigrants sue US, Conn. city over arrests

Professors and students at Yale Law School, who are representing the men, attributed much of the problem to Danbury's mayor, Mark Boughton, who denied the allegations.

"The arrival of new Latino immigrants, and the failure of the federal government to address immigration's local effects, has sparked a backlash from Mayor Boughton's administration, which has targeted, harassed, and intimidated these new city residents through a number of discriminatory policies," the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs say police officers have made civil immigration arrests despite not having the authority to do so. They also allege that the city has discriminated against Latinos in enforcing city ordinances, shutting down neighborhood volleyball games, and encouraging police harassment of day laborers.

"These policies aim ultimately to drive unwanted immigrants from Danbury and to deter future immigrants from making Danbury their home," the lawsuit says.

Nine of the men were day laborers arrested in a sting operation on Sept. 19, 2006. They were waiting at a park and got into a vehicle driven by a man who they thought had hired them to demolish a fence, according to the lawsuit. The driver was an undercover Danbury police officer.

When the men arrived at the purported work site, they were arrested and shipped to detention centers around the country. All nine are free on bond, and their immigration cases are pending. The lawsuit says the 10th plaintiff was deported to Ecuador earlier this year after a racially motivated traffic stop by Danbury police.

The plaintiffs say police did not know who the nine laborers were before the sting and had no probable cause or warrants to justify the arrests. All nine were shipped to detention centers as far away as Texas and were denied access to phones to call their families and lawyers, the lawsuit says.

Boughton disputed the allegations yesterday. He said local police provide support to federal operations and comply with the Constitution.

"Frankly, we are not going to be bullied by Yale or by anybody else as it relates to the equal application and the neutral applications of the laws of the city of Danbury," Boughton said during an afternoon press conference.