Thread: Mayor Pledges Immigrant ID Cards, Take 2

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.”

Still, as the general order proceeds, immigrants like Jugo Veltran 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.”

Ever notice how when a law comes along that benefits the illegals, they sure as hell want it to be enforced, but any laws that they don't like, like immigration, employment, tax, driving and DUI, animal cruelty and domestic abuse laws, etc., they just ignore or protest against. Can we do that? Just choose which laws we like and obey those and just ignore any laws that don't suit our needs?

Could someone enroll and then publicize the enrollment of a dog in this program.

Originally Posted by Richard

Could someone enroll and then publicize the enrollment of a dog in this program.

Ha Ha ha, Ho, Ho, Ho, that was very good Richard!
Merry Christmas to you and yours this season!

Where's the ACLU?? How can a city issue ID's to illegals......that's the Federal govt. responsibility, isn't it?? It is, if it's the other way around, according to the aclu.

You can't get much more blatant in "aiding and abetting" illegal aliens than giving them ID's and spending a 100 grand in doing so. Just think how easy it is for a terrorist now.......absolutely totally insane. Do these idiots even remember 9/11? Would they hand out ID's to a guy named Bin Laden? These morons might as well put out a sign saying...."We will protect thieves, murderers, rapists, child molesters and the like."....Welcome to our insane city."

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.

How can an illegal immigrant be a citizen? I guess an illegal can be a resident (not a legal one though), but they sure as heck can't be a citizen!

Why aren't the real citizens of New Haven yelling and stomping their feet over this issue?

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

Group wants city ID cards ready sooner
Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor
12/21/2006
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\-NEW HAVEN — A municipal identification card that would serve all residents of New Haven, including its large population of illegal immigrants, may not be available until summer.

Members of an immigrant rights group met with Mayor John DeStefano Jr. Wednesday and urged him to step up the schedule for the cards, which he first endorsed in October 2005.

They also want a police order, in which officers do not inquire about a person’s legal status unless they are investigating criminal activity, upgraded to a city ordinance. The group wants New Haven to consider becoming a "sanctuary city."

Rob Smuts, deputy assistant to the mayor, said they are reviewing whether the cards now used to register time on city parking meters can also incorporate a photo and access to city services, such as the library — thereby encouraging residents to get one.

Depending on how sophisticated the cards are, the project could cost up to $100,000 and will require a request for proposal and consideration as part of the city’s budget process for next year.

Latinos United in Action paid a surprise visit to City Hall carrying an oversized cardboard Christmas card with its 2007 agenda and a message of thanks for the general police order, issued Dec. 14 by Police Chief Francesco Ortiz Jr. The order instructs police not to ask about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses or those seeking police assistance.

The reasoning behind it is to encourage the estimated 10,000 illegal immigrants in New Haven to come forward when they need police assistance.

Under the policy, no one will be detained solely on the belief he or she is here illegally, nor will city police make arrests based on administrative warrants seeking deportation, which the city argues is the responsibility of federal immigration officials.

DeStefano said police were doing outreach through the churches and domestic violence centers. John Jairo Lugo of the Latino group said they expect to hold a forum on the police order in February.

Simon Moshenberg, a member of the group and a second-year student at Yale Law School, said, Connecticut has good and bad practices on how to treat illegal immigrants, with New Haven the best and Danbury the worst.

Lugo said the ID, police order and access to bank accounts were all ideas pushed by his organization, but lately they have felt left out of discussions and were concerned the ID was taking so long.

He said Bank of America, Citibank and Sovereign Bank have agreed to accept foreign identification documents to allow illegal immigrants here to open bank accounts, to lessen their vulnerability as crime victims.

Lugo said designating New Haven as a sanctuary city "is more of a symbolic way to welcome the immigrant community" and said it is part of a national movement. He said he has gotten a favorable response from some aldermen, while Smuts said in his initial conversations some "were interested in substance over symbol, although we all recognize that symbol can sometimes be important."

Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and New York are some of the cities that have such designations.



©New Haven Register 2007

New Haven was one of the cities, listed along with New York, Chicago, Detroit, that had a large increase in crime!