Thread: Oakland council votes to proceed on ID cards

The Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to develop proposals for municipal identity cards as a way, primarily, to help illegal immigrants interact with police, banks and others.


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The specific details will take months to resolve - and require another council vote. But, for now, the only thing clear is that the council believes in the issue.

In advocating for the cards in a discussion that lasted a couple of hours, council members cited their own family stories as well as the nation's long history of selective justice, mentioning anti-Semitism, homophobia, and the Chinese Exclusion Act.

"There was a day when slavery was legal," said Councilmember Jean Quan. "I have no doubt that we have to vote 'yes' on this tonight."

The issue has taken a polarizing tone in many parts of the country. But, other than raising concerns that the program be financially self-sufficient, no one on the Oakland council had objections to the politics of the issue.

The discussion offered a glimpse into the politics of identity on the eight-member council which has six women, an array of ethnicities, differing sexualities and not a white man on it.

Council members argued that illegal immigrants are fearful of reporting crimes or even housing violations because they don't have identification. Quan has said police are forced to arrest and jail people they stop, even for minor traffic infractions, if they don't have identification. Oakland police say the card would be a boon.

"It will make our jobs easier," Deputy Police Chief David Kozicki told the city's finance committee last week. "We do support it and we like the idea."

Kozicki said police had two caveats: The card has to be secure against counterfeiting, like the card San Francisco introduced this year, and it cannot be used as a valid driver's license.

The ordinance that the council voted to approve requires that fees for getting the card - anywhere from $15 and up - would have to cover the full cost of the program. To buy a card, people would have to prove their identity and that they live in Oakland.

Proponents would like the card to include a debit-card feature, allowing poor people to avoid exorbitant check-cashing fees and to be less vulnerable to muggings by carrying less cash. If the debit-card function is added, Quan said the fees are likely to be less.

The card will not indicate gender, which transgender activists have testified more fully embraces their identity. Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, a white lesbian, said she was excited to get a card herself so that "we don't find our gender identity being policed."

Councilmember Larry Reid, who is black and who abstained from the vote over concerns that the measure might have an impact on the city budget, said he has illegal immigrants in his family who are originally from Costa Rica.

Quan said her great-grandfather was only able to get legal residence in the United States - during a time when Chinese immigration was severely limited - because he lied. After birth records were burned in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Quan said her great-grandfather claimed his records were burned inside.

The council chambers were filled with perhaps 100 supporters, holding mass-printed signs saying things like "no human being is illegal" and "justice and dignity for all U.S. immigrants."

But there were some who objected - almost all of whom were white men. They came from cities including Livermore, Bay Point and Berkeley.

"It's just one more step to amnesty," said Mike Jones of Fremont.

A carpenter, Jones said his wages have plummeted over the past two decades as contractors choose to hire illegal immigrants.

"I'm just a guy swinging a hammer for a wage," said Jones, who is white. "My quality of life has been stolen."

E-mail Matthai Kuruvila at mkuruvila@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle


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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1809UE.DTL

Quote:

"Quan said her great-grandfather was only able to get legal residence in the United States - during a time when Chinese immigration was severely limited - because he lied. After birth records were burned in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Quan said her great-grandfather claimed his records were burned inside."

And to think my Irish great-grandfather had to follow all the rules in order to immigrate here and "get legal residence in the United States"!

In other words they support chaos and anarchy...great what ever happen to the rule of law, oh thats right they only use it when it supports their cause.