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Activists Rally At Meriden City Hall In Support Of Immigrants

Joe Mabel
/
Wikimedia Commons
Meriden City Hall

More than 50 immigrant rights activists squeezed into Meriden City Hall for a council meeting Monday night to ask the city to support undocumented immigrants who live there. That includes Nelly Cumbicos, who was set to be deported to her native Ecuador in two weeks.

On Monday, a federal immigration judge granted Cumbicos a one-year temporary stay to explore her legal options. Cumbicos spoke at the meeting through an interpreter.

“There are countless others like me who have been targeted and live in fear. Please, make Meriden a town that fights for the rights of its citizens and keeps families together.”

Cumbicos says several Meriden residents have faced harassment and deportation since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

That includes one couple, who also received a deportation stay last fall. A Meriden church has also offered sanctuary to a 70-year-old Indonesian man from West Hartford.

Cumbicos says she came to the United States illegally from Ecuador after her father’s store was burned down. She fears for her safety there. She would leave behind a husband and teenage son.