Terence Ward has worked for the U.S. Justice Department for 28 years and plans to continue to do so, but after next Friday, he and all 22 employees of the federal public defender’s office in the state will work without pay if the government shutdown continues. Ward is one of about 1,500 federal employees in the state affected by the shutdown, which isn’t likely to end soon and whose impact in Connecticut will grow with time.
Department of Homeland Security
Posted inNews
IG report: Coast Guard Academy retaliated against whistleblower who reported racial bias
WASHINGTON – Federal investigators determined the Coast Guard Academy in New London retaliated against a black, female officer after she complained she was bullied and harassed. The academy is also under congressional investigation for allegations of racial discrimination, harassment and bullying.
Posted inPolitics
Two immigrant children in Connecticut sue over family separations
With the help of Connecticut attorneys, two children who were taken from their parents at the U.S.- Mexico border and sent to a Connecticut facility are suing the federal government for the “psychological and mental harm” caused by the separations.
Posted inPolitics
Omnibus has millions to strengthen CT voting system against cyber attacks
WASHINGTON — The massive omnibus spending bill President Donald Trump has signed into law contains $380 million — including up to $5 million for Connecticut — to protect digital voting systems from cyberattacks. Connecticut was one of 21 states targeted by Russian hackers in the 2016 election cycle, but they failed to breach the state’s electoral system.
Posted inJustice, Politics
A reprieve from deportation in Connecticut, not politics
The legal, political and public-relations elements of fighting deportation orders were on stark display Monday at a press conference in Hartford where two members of Congress harshly criticized the Trump administration, an immigrant couple insisted they had no interest in politics, and a mischievous 7-year-old boy learned what it means to stay on message.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Some ‘dreamers’ missing deadline to renew protection from deportation
WASHINGTON — Not all young, undocumented immigrants who were given protection from deportation by an Obama-era policy are going to meet an Oct. 5 deadline set by President Donald Trump for renewing their permission to live and work in the United States for another two years. The $495 filing fee may have been an obstacle for many.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Trump budget makes another attempt to target ‘sanctuaries’
WASHINGTON — Tucked into the massive $4.4 trillion budget President Donald Trump released this week is the administration’s latest attempt to punish cities and states, like Connecticut, that it considers “sanctuaries,” a move the Malloy administration and others say is unconstitutional.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Hartford, East Haven listed in first DHS report of cities limiting cooperation with ICE
WASHINGTON — Connecticut is hardly mentioned in the Department of Homeland Security’s first list of law enforcement agencies that fail to hold jailed immigrants beyond their release dates for federal authorities. But the DHS did list Hartford and East Haven as cities which limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers look to speed deportation of undocumented convicts
More than a year after an undocumented immigrant fatally stabbed a Norwich woman, two Connecticut lawmakers announced Monday they plan to introduce legislation in Congress to expedite the deportation of undocumented immigrants who have committed a violent crime or pose a threat to public safety.
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Himes, Courtney defy Obama, vote for bill pausing refugee program
WASHINGTON — The debate over U.S. policy on Syrian refugees that has roiled the nation and Congress split the Connecticut delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday over a measure that would effectively suspend entry of refugees from Syria and Iraq until the screening process is strengthened.
Posted inPolitics
New push to stop Plum Island sale
WASHINGTON — A new effort to sell Plum Island in Long Island Sound has intensified a tug of war that pits Connecticut lawmakers and environmentalists against the federal government. the island’s owner.
Posted inPolitics
House approves Homeland Security funding
WASHINGTON – An impasse over funding of the Department of Homeland Security that threatened the paychecks of nearly 1,500 agency employees in Connecticut ended Tuesday as the House approved a bill that does not include riders to block President Obama’s immigration policies.
Posted inPolitics
In CT, 1,500 Homeland Security employees spared shutdown, for now
WASHINGTON – With a last-minute vote, Congress averted a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, extending its funding by seven days and at least temporarily sparing 1,500 agency employees in Connecticut their paychecks.
Posted inPolitics
Homeland Security: Assessing the impact of a shutdown in CT
What would be the impact in Connecticut of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security? The risks depend on who you ask. But among the certainties are that TSA workers at Connecticut airports and most staff at the Coast Guard Academy in New London would be working without pay.
Posted inNews
CT Dreamer helps bolster Obama’s immigration plan
WASHINGTON – As Senate Republicans pushed for approval of a bill that would block implementation of President Obama’s immigration policy changes, Quinnipiac student Maria Praeli traveled to the White House to help put a human face on the issue.