Is this not outright criminal activity? And aiding and abetting criminals?

"a call for the revival of the city’s promised municipal ID program that would give a city ID to citizens regardless of immigration status, enabling illegal immigrants to open bank accounts"

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/arch ... dges_i.php

Mayor Pledges Immigrant ID Cards, Take 2


by Melissa Bailey | December 20, 2006 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

IMG_6735.JPGOne day before a landmark immigrant protection policy takes effect at the city police department, Latino rights advocates delivered a giant Christmas card to the mayor, with thanks and Christmas wishes for further protection. Mayor John DeStefano answered with a revived pledge to introduce municipal ID cards.

Members of the grassroots Latino advocacy group Unidad Latina en Acción marched up the stairs to the mayor’s office Wednesday morning to deliver their agenda for 2007. The mayor slipped out of a meeting to greet the crowd gathered in his office.

As the mayor tore open the envelope, Fatima Rojas (pictured above at right) thanked him for the general police order protecting victims of crime from being asked their immigration status by city cops. The order takes effect Thursday, when it will appear as a notice along with officers’ pay stubs.

IMG_6743.JPGDrawn on the group’s Christmas wish list was a giant ParkSmart card with the word “ID” next to it — a call for the revival of the city’s promised municipal ID program that would give a city ID to citizens regardless of immigration status, enabling illegal immigrants to open bank accounts and provide ID to police. The initiative blew up in the city’s face when it was announced last October, prompting outcry that New Haven was harboring “illegals”. The matter was tabled during DeStefano’s gubernatorial campaign, but the mayor now says he aims to deliver the IDs, to be added into next year’s budget.

“That’s something we’ll address in our budget next year,” said the mayor of the ID program.

Asked if staff shortages were preventing the ID program from proceeding, DeStefano said no. “There is staff in place that are working on it; I just don’t know where they are.”

Asked why the program still hasn’t come to fruition a year after being announced, Mayoral Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Smuts said, “We are trying to find funding for it. ... We’re working out technical kinks.” The city hopes to combine the ID card with other city services, such as a library card or the ParkSmart card, which can be used for parking and some downtown retail.

The new technology could cost up to $100,000, said Smuts. A bigger stumbling block may be the political sensitivity of giving IDs to illegal immigrants. What ID would citizens need to show in order to get a municipal ID? “That’s one of the questions that we’re working out,” replied Smuts. “When we land on that exactly, that will be part of our announcement.”

Mayor DeStefano also welcomed advocates' request that New Haven be dubbed a “Sanctuary City.” The gesture would distinguish the Elm City from other cities (like Danbury) that have been hostile to immigrants, said John Jairo Lugo of Unidad Latina. “It’s important for the city to take a stand and say, listen, we’re not going to attack the immigrants, we’re going to welcome them.”

IMG_6754.JPGLugo (pictured) said the group also wants to rectify the fact that “other people are taking credit for” the general order, which his grassroots group helped initiate. In a petition to City Hall, the group calls for the general order to be made more permanent by becoming codified into city law. Anti-immigrant attitudes remain, argued Lugo, citing a New Haven officer who commented on this website that a police officer’s life is “more important than” the life of an “illegal alien.”

Corporation Counsel Tom Ude said codifying a general police order into city law would not be appropriate. “It’s the chief of police and the Board of Police of Commissioners who have supervisory authority over the police department, rather than the Board of Aldermen.”

IMG_6755.JPGStill, as the general order proceeds, immigrants like Jugo Veltran (pictured at center) will be keeping an eye out to see whether police department training will flush away lingering anti-immigrant attitudes on the force. “I’m afraid to call police, because you are never sure,” said Veltran, from Guatemala. “We’ll have to wait to see if the new law works.”