Allentown police, city councilwoman favor providing municipal ID cards for undocumented immigrants

By Precious Petty | The Express-Times
on June 12, 2014 at 11:11 PM, updated June 12, 2014 at 11:18 PM


Allentown police Detective Pedro Cruz and city Councilwoman Cynthia Mota listen as Assistant Chief Glen Dorney speaks during an immigration reform event at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Express-Times Photo | PRECIOUS PETTY

Allentown police and a city council member tonight said they favor making municipal identification cards available to residents, including undocumented immigrants.

As a former undocumented immigrant, Councilwoman Cynthia Mota said immigration reform is an issue close to her heart. While federal legislators drag their feet, state and local officials should step up to address an issue of utmost importance to many of the city's families, she said.

Creating a system by which residents could obtain identification is one way Allentown officials can do that, Mota said during a community meeting organized by Congregations United for Neighborhood Action or CUNA.

"No one wants to live in darkness," she said, but that's a reality for undocumented immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding people.

Until becoming a U.S. citizen at 16, she was wary of city police; their mere presence made her palms sweat.

"It's very traumatizing," said Mota, who was a child when she emigrated to this country with her father from the Dominican Republic. After her visa expired, she spent eight or nine years as an undocumented immigrant.

About 25 people attended the event held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church and hosted by Monsignor John Grabish. CUNA Executive Director Joshua Chisholm and police Detective Pedro Cruz were also on hand for the meeting, which was part of the organization's ongoing Campaign for Citizenship.

Allentown police Assistant Chief Glen Dorney said the fear Mota describes can hinder officers' ability to establish open and honest relationships with the residents of communities they patrol. Those relationships help keep city crime in check and issuing municipal identification cards could strengthen them, he said.

Undocumented immigrants are less likely to report crime because they worry any interaction with police could lead to deportation, Dorney said. The department is not a federal agency and enforcing the nation's immigration laws is not a job for city police officers, he said.

"Essentially, we have a hands off approach" when it comes to immigration enforcement, Dorney said. "We do not want you to be afraid to call the police and give us information if it could help the City of Allentown."

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