Group Fights ID Cards
Aid Opposed For Illegal Immigrants In New Haven
By JEFFREY B. COHEN

Courant Staff Writer

August 27, 2007

NORTH BRANFORD

Amy McNabb's Ford Focus has two bumper stickers of note: One that promotes animal adoption, another that promotes closing the nation's borders, clamping down on illegal immigrants, and holding politicians accountable.

She's not a racist or a bigot, she said, and - as her pet-friendly bumper sticker would suggest - she's not without compassion. But she doesn't like illegal immigration.

"We do have compassion for people and, yeah, we're all immigrants. But do it legally, do it the right way," McNabb said. "I just don't understand why people are going out of their way to help these people who don't even belong here to begin with."

"Where's the compassion for the legal citizen who has to pay for all these extra services for people who simply don't belong here?" she said.

Dressed in a tank top with an American flag, McNabb was one of roughly 50 picnickers who gathered Sunday under a tent in Northford to rally against illegal immigration and New Haven's recent approval of identification cards for illegal immigrants.

In July, New Haven rolled out the Elm City Resident Card. The program is designed to provide identification cards to those who may not have them, including the elderly, children and illegal immigrants. Without identification, city officials say, many immigrants cannot open bank accounts and are easy targets for crime because of the cash they carry or keep in their homes. The cards help bring illegal immigrants out from the shadows, proponents say.

Since July, this group has formed to combat the cards.

Called Southern Connecticut Immigration Reform, the organization has grown to a membership of roughly 400 - 80 of whom are New Haven residents, the rest of whom say they are concerned about the effect of the ID cards on the city's suburbs. Its members challenge both the motivation of the politicians who pushed the cards as well as the legality of the cards themselves.

On Sunday, some of the group's supporters gathered to share burgers, patriotic rock and political philosophy.

Veronica Kivela lives in North Haven and, like her husband, is concerned about the country she will eventually leave behind to her grandchildren, she said. She's concerned about what she says are the economic costs of illegal immigration - providing food, clothing, shelter and more to those who live here without federal permission.

But she's also concerned with the law.

"If these people actually want to come to America because they want a slice of the American pie, if they want to live the great American dream that somebody has sold them, why are they bringing their thug ways with them?" she asked.

Kivela challenges anyone to call her a racist. It's not about race, she said. It's about reason.

"We are a nation governed by laws," Kivela said. "We are not governed by feelings."

Contact Jeffrey B. Cohen at jcohen@courant.com.

Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant


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If there is a group worthy of our noise, it is this one!