Mayor drops illegal immigrant plan

Eugene Driscoll:

Mayor Mark Boughton's request to deputize state police as immigration agents isn't going anywhere, he said.

"There has been no official word, but based on my conversations with the state police commissioner and the governor, I would say chances are very slim," Boughton said.

In April, the mayor requested that officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency, train state police in immigration laws. Boughton made the request because he said city services were being drained by thousands of illegal immigrants from Central and South America.

A small number of police officers in Florida and Alabama have received the federal training.

Boughton's request touched off a firestorm locally. Immigrant groups such as the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury and the Ecuadorian Civic Center came out against the proposal, saying it would make all immigrants — documented and undocumented — afraid of anyone in a police uniform.

State union leaders and the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut said the mayor was fueling anti-immigrant sentiment in Danbury.

The mayor's request, along with a proposed law that would restrict backyard volleyball games and an inaugural meeting of an immigration reform group in Danbury, led to the creation of the Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants.

The group plans to hold a "unity march" down Main Street Sunday. One of the group's goals, according to its Web site, is for Boughton to publicly retract his state police request.

Boughton said Monday his initial goal in making the request was to show locally how a "failed federal immigration policy" hurts towns and cities.

Apparently, another win for illegal immigrants and their supporters.