Thread: Bridgeport considers municipal ID for illegal aliens

Bridgeport considers municipal ID for immigrants

Brian Lockhart
Updated 6:07 pm, Friday, May 8, 2015

• 
  An example of the proposed ID card New Haven under then-Mayor John DeStefano ultimately adopted in 2007. Bridgeport officials are exploring a similar initiative and may include money for municipal identification cards in the new city budget. Photo: Bob Child, AP Photo/Bob Child

BRIDGEPORT -- Rual Nugra entered the United States from Ecuador 19 years ago and works as a carpenter.

Marcelino Delamerced has lived here since 1987 and runs a Mexican restaurant.

They are part of Bridgeport's community of undocumented immigrants that officials and activists believe will benefit from a municipal identification card program likely to be a last minute addition to the city budget.

"I don't have nothing -- just my passport," Nugra said. "We need this kind of identification in this town."

Delamerced added, "I'm paying taxes and I have a family that are American citizens."

The City Council is scheduled to vote on a budget Monday.
Discussions between members and Mayor Bill Finch's office are underway to include possibly $200,000 or $300,000 set aside for rolling out IDs at some point in the coming fiscal year that begins July 1.

"The administration's working with the council to ensure there are funds in the budget for it and to figure out revenue streams for it as well," Finch spokesman Brett Broesder said Friday.

Hispanic and Latino council members want Connecticut's largest city to follow New Haven and Hartford, as well as New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and issue ID cards so non-legal residents can better access services, from obtaining library cards and dealing with local police to opening bank accounts and signing leases.

"They're here already," said Councilwoman Milta Feliciano, D-137. "Why not make them part of the community?"

ID cards can become a political football in the national immigration debate and criticized as a way of offering illegal immigrants safe haven.

But Bridgeport is a Democrat-dominated, heavily-minority city in a progressively blue state. And Connecticut this year began issuing drivers' licenses to undocumented residents.

Even the Bridgeport council's lone Republican, Enrique Torres, R-130, said he would not oppose identification cards as long as the initiative is "revenue neutral" and pays for itself in the budget.

"It's probably better for the greater good," Torres said.
Feliciano and her colleague, Councilwoman Lydia Martinez, D-137, said supporters of the IDs were motivated by the high interest in Connecticut's new drivers' license program.

"One of the concerns was would this make them go into hiding, because once you start talking about this kind of stuff the undocumented population gets a little scared," Feliciano said.

"But last summer, when they were trying to get the program for the licenses together, we had a meeting (at a Bridgeport church) that was packed."

Martinez added it helps that Bridgeport can research what other municipalities have done.

"The other cities have been a model for us," she said, adding advocates have reached out to former New Haven Mayor John DeStefano for advice.

New Haven is viewed nationally as a leader, launching its identification card in 2004.

New York City's council approved a program last year, and Hartford unveiled its plans for ID cards last month.

Bridgeport Councilman Jose Casco, D-136, only recently filled a vacant seat on the council, but has been lobbying for Bridgeport to adopt an ID program as head of the Latino Advocacy Foundation of Fairfield County.

Casco has grown impatient watching other big cities take the lead on IDs.

"I cannot wait longer," Casco said. "Why do I have to wait by keeping our members and community on the side when some other cities have already finished that project?"

Casco and other council members lobbying for the identification cards made a last minute pitch to the council's budget committee Wednesday to include around $300,000 in the new budget that takes affect July 1.

The committee's discussion continued Thursday.

Tom Sherwood, the city's budget director, told members he had no opposition to setting aside money in reserve because an ID program, if launched, would supposedly pay for itself through fees of around $30 a person.

"At least you're telling the community we're looking to go and do something here," Sherwood said. "You're making a statement for people it's important. What's it going to hurt?"

Council President Thomas McCarthy, D-133, agreed.

"With almost everything there will be someone against it, but the people we're targeting are here in the city and to pretend otherwise is just not to face the truth of who is in Bridgeport," McCarthy said Thursday. "It is better to understand who is here and bring them out of the shadows."

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/...ts-6251937.php

"I cannot wait longer," Casco said. "Why do I have to wait by keeping our members and community on the side when some other cities have already finished that project?"

Be very wary of people who talk about their "community" instead of their country. I've never really liked the word and rarely use it because it doesn't really apply to anything I've ever really cared about or supported in that sense primarily due to the fact that I believe what's good for one is good for another regardless of what "community" you're from or claim to belong with, but boy oh boy do these illegal alien advocates love it.