Protesters took over a major intersection in Hartford during rush hour on Monday to demonstrate their outrage over last week's Supreme Court tie vote that stalled DAPA, one of President Obama's signature immigration programs.
Deferred Action for Parents of Americans would allow about five million undocumented parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents to stay in the country.
About 200 people picketed in front of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. One protestor was Lucas Codognolla, an undocumented college graduate who lives in Stamford. Codognolla said he was 9 when his family came to the U.S. from Brazil. They wanted to escape the poverty and violence in their country. Codognolla spoke to the crowd, saying he didn’t want to live in fear anymore.
“I am sick and tired of living in constant fear that my family will be separated. I'm sick and tired of hearing stories of this building right here and the people in this building separating families, deporting people—to their death, sometimes. I'm sick and tired of that.”
Codognolla joined 30 of the protesters who blocked traffic in front of the Customs office for half an hour.
Nine of them refused police orders to move and were arrested and charged with creating a public disturbance.