Thread: City adopts its own immigration policy

The immigration raids in New Haven that nabbed illegal immigrants is a reminder that the city is not a country unto itself. Federal law still applies here although city officials called the arrests a "disgrace" and an act of "intimidation."


The roundup of illegal aliens came two days after New Haven became the first city in the country to approve a municipal identification card for illegal aliens. As far as conservative talk radio is concerned, the vote put New Haven on the far left fringe.

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The card has proved hugely controversial, not just in the city's more conservative suburbs but among city taxpayers as well. The card is intended to make life easier for the illegal immigrants and consequently more firmly establish their residency here despite their violation of immigration laws.

We do not support the issuing of a card that is intended to subvert reasonable, if imperfect, federal law.

However, New Haven's response is understandable given the federal government's often contradictory policy on illegal aliens that has swung between crackdowns and minimal enforcement.

The city has an estimated 15,000 illegal immigrants, primarily from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. A main justification for the ID card was the difficulty of illegal aliens to open bank accounts. Without accounts, many have sums of cash that make them targets for robberies, police say.

How effective the card will be is open to question.

Rather than blending in, holders of the city ID card will be readily identifiable as illegal immigrants.

Major banks — including Bank of America, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Sovereign, Washington Mutual — already allow illegal aliens to open bank accounts or obtain credit cards, even mortgages.

The banks accept federal tax identification numbers issued by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS does not inquire about immigration status when issuing the tax numbers and is barred by law, in most cases, from sharing information about them with immigration authorities. They also accept as identification photo ID cards issued by Mexican and other Latin American consulates to illegal immigrants.

However, city officials say local Bank of America branches and NewAlliance Bank require Social Security numbers, which the illegal aliens do not possess.

New Haven's ID card is a local reaction to a national problem that the city cannot solve.

It is unrealistic to expect that the estimated 11 million or more illegal aliens in the country will all be deported. There is a natural sympathy for them in a nation built by previous generations of immigrants.

Perhaps this year, Congress will pass a law that enables the nation to regain control of its borders while establishing a process that allows those who want to work here to enter and remain without fear of deportatio

It is unrealistic to expect that the estimated 11 million or more illegal aliens in the country will all be deported. There is a natural sympathy for them in a nation built by previous generations of immigrants.

And, here's part of the problem. "They" keep saying we feel sympathy for illegal criminal aliens! I don't feel sorry for them, and if the grass roots is any indication, which it is to all but a handful of morons, most of us don't feel sympathy for them and WE KNOW the difference between an immigrant and an illegal alien!

Hey, NotGoingToTakeItAnymore.

Got a link for this story?

Originally Posted by had_enuf

Hey, NotGoingToTakeItAnymore.

Got a link for this story?

Oops! Sure do. Sorry...I was having my first cup of coffee when I posted this. Here's the link.

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm ... 7581&rfi=6

06/10/2007
City plan for ID cards hits a nerve
Mary E. O'Leary , Register Topics Editor

New Haven has been thrown into the national spotlight and is holding its ground as supporters and detractors weigh in on its planned ID card, which appears to be the first in the country that will be available to illegal aliens and citizens alike.
"It is turning into a metaphor for a larger national debate about immigration and it's going to continue to play out," said Mayor John DeStefano Jr., who was convinced of the worth of the ID for practical reasons.

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"It's a practical response to a real problem of a large segment of the population who felt isolated from civil authority, were fearful of civil authority and that was contributing to a lack of civility and order in our community," said DeStefano, who estimated 10 percent of New Haven's 120,000 population are undocumented.

The purpose of the card, which is available to everyone, but pitched to senior citizens, students, children and immigrants, would allow access to city libraries and parks, while a debit component would facilitate purchases at some 50 stores and payment at parking meters.

Documents needed to verify identification are the same as those required by banks to open accounts, so it is viewed as a way to get immigrants to use banks to make them less vulnerable to thefts.

But lost in the discussion was the genesis for the program, which Michael Wishnie, a lawyer with the legal clinics at the Yale Law School, said was public safety and the request from immigrants to have identification they could show police.

Wishnie said the guidance from Houston, Boston and other big city police departments they contacted was to know who is in your city and to work with all residents without clouding public safety with issues of citizenship.

"This is sound local governance. This is not about soapbox, this is not about foreign policy. This is what police around the country say that is helpful in moving forward," Wishnie said.

New Haven is among a group of cities, that includes Los Angeles and Chicago, that do not use local police to enforce civil immigration violations, a stance also taken by the Connecticut State Police.

Criminal charges are a different matter, however, with all law enforcement agencies cooperating at that level.

It was a quintessential New Haven moment last week, full of civic pride for the officials, advocates and clergy who vetted the issue for the past two years, after the program was officially approved.

"I'm very proud of the city where I was born ... the mayor is supposed to maintain civic order and assure the common good. By this initiative he has done exactly that. He has taken leadership, leadership I hope that will permeate the minds of other leaders throughout our country to do the same until we get a comprehensive plan that protects migrants," said Bishop Peter Rosazza of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford.

That pride however, turned to anger and charges of intimidation by the federal government when a raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials resulted in the arrest of 32 immigrants, coming as it did two days after New Haven voted to start offering the program in July.

The raids, seeking immigrants who have ignored deportation orders, even generated a pointed comment from one Democratic presidential candidate.

"The people targeted in today's (June 6) raid are hard working and productive. They have families and they don't have criminal records," said Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. "The tactics reportedly used by agents — taking suspects away in front of family members, including young children — are extreme and uncalled for."

Paula Grenier, spokeswoman for ICE for the New England region, said all its raids are planned, while a subsequent report said the fugitive task force had been scheduled to come to New Haven since April.

New Haven Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said in his 28 years with the department, he could not remember a similar raid by ICE, particularly one where his department was not notified until it was well under way.

DeStefano said of the 600,000 warrants held by ICE to enforce deportation orders across the country, he questioned the choice to serve some in New Haven right after the ID program was approved.

"No other city in Connecticut hit the lottery that day," DeStefano said. "I will be interested to see the next city to be hit by this, if it is New Haven or someone else, all things being equal."

City officials said the agents had 16 warrants, but were only able to find four of those people. The remaining 28 people were collateral arrests.

With the U.S. Senate again stalled on national immigration reform, New Haven represents one end of the spectrum of debate as individual communities come up with their own solutions to the immigrant problem, as they deal with the estimated 12 million undocumented residents in the country.

Mayor Lou Barletta of Hazelton, Pa., led the fight in that coal-mining city where legislators adopted an anti-illegal alien ordinance that penalizes businesses that hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them.

There is no ruling yet and both sides have pledged to appeal, while a series of other cases, including Farmers Branch, Texas, where another federal court has temporarily blocked a similar ordinance barring apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants, could eventually wind their way to the Supreme Court.

In the recent Senate debate on immigration, Sen. Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota, also lost by only one vote, on an amendment that would have prevented cities and states from collecting information on legal status. Many, including New Haven, do not seek information on citizenship when dealing with police, while other cities keep it out of the equation for health care reasons.

"If you believe at all in state's rights and states and cities deciding what makes them safe, it is a slap in the face of that and community policing," said Joan Friedland, immigration policy director for the National Immigration Law Center.

A handful of vocal opponents to New Haven's ID card from outside the city emerged just before it was adopted. In the state legislature, there were two last-minute failed attempts by Republican lawmakers to disallow the municipal IDs.

State Sen. Leonard Fasano, R-North Branford, proposed that New Haven forfeit all state assistance if it proceeded with the municipal ID. He offered it as an amendment to a bill allowing in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants who graduate from Connecticut high schools, a measure that ultimately passed and is now being considered by Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

New Haven's lawyers argued that state statutes grant municipalities broad powers of discretion to provide for the general health, safety and welfare of its citizens; there are also many examples of cities issuing some kind of IDs, and they feel their proposal falls within both jurisdictions.

Fasano wasn't sure that was an accurate interpretation and said it would be better for the state legislature to determine the rules around collection and safeguarding of the information, as well as to prevent identify fraud.

Given that 50 percent of New Haven's budget is supported with state funds, Fasano said "my tax dollars" are helping to underwrite such things as increased library and park use by immigrants. "It's an issue that should be debated," Fasano said of the cards.

State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, offered a ban on such IDs, arguing that "immigration law is a federal issue. Mayor DeStefano has made it a local issue, he has made it a state issue and I felt I had to address it. He is making foreign policy."

DeStefano said the city is on solid ground legally in issuing the cards, which do not confer additional rights than people already have, and is a program that is being funded entirely by a private grant.

"This is an intrusion by the state into municipal affairs," he said of the amendments by Fasano and Candelaro, and that he was "shocked" that two Republican lawmakers would advocate such a move.

Steven Camarota, director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which advocates for fewer immigrants, feels the ID in and of itself is more symbolic than anything else. "But, it conveys a contempt for the rule of law, although as a practical matter, it is not clear how the cards themselves are meaningful," Camarota said.

Central to much of the talk around the ID in New Haven, was setting a civil tone that breaks with America's difficult history with immigrants, where each subsequent wave has been subject to poor treatment by those who came before.

DeStefano said "to the extent that we mainstream populations which are here because of the availability of work that no one else wants to do, the community benefits as a whole. This (ID) just helps us navigate that."


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Mary E. O'Leary can be reached at 789-5731 or moleary@nhregister.com.



http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm ... 0581&rfi=6

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