New Haven made history as the first city in the nation to introduce a municipal ID program. started as a public safety measure. However, it has endured as a way to incorporate all residents into the New Haven community, including those who are undocumented.
Aside from community integration, the card hosts a variety of benefits for residents, including the ability to obtain employment, a debit card and access to city libraries and food pantries.
However, the implementation of the card faced immense backlash from federal agencies, including ICE, under the Bush administration, when the program was established back in 2007. Federal agents the program citing a national security risk because of the program鈥檚 availability to undocumented residents.
And in 2008, the city of New Haven prevailed in fending off a lawsuit challenging a Freedom of Information Act request seeking to force the city to release the information of residents who had signed up for the program, according to.
The city was ultimately not required to release the identities of the thousands of residents who were registered with the program at the time.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker says if the city is challenged again, it will be ready.
鈥淚f there is an attempt to make any information public about people that have an Elm City ID card, it could potentially put people at risk,鈥� Elicker said. 鈥淚f there were some sort of effort to get that information, we would engage with our attorneys to make sure that people's privacy is protected.鈥�
Elicker also underscores the program registration process is relatively non-invasive.
鈥淲e collect very limited information as a part of the Elm city ID card. So you know, the card has a photo, name, address, date of birth and signature, and we don鈥檛 collect other information about someone,鈥� Elicker said.
Record of an applicant's immigration status is not collected as part of the registration process.
Muneer Ahmad, a Yale Law professor who directs the school鈥檚 immigration law clinic, says one of the surest ways to ensure data protection is if all city residents apply for the card.
鈥淚t decreases the value of the data to the federal government to know who has applied for the ID, if it's something that has been broadly applied for and obtained by residents of lots of different backgrounds,鈥� Ahmad said. 鈥淎nd it reflects a different value of the ID, which is essentially a shared membership in a community.鈥�
Ahmad also noted the ID could demonstrate a resident鈥檚 community engagement and roots in the instance of an immigration hearing.
鈥淭hat is relevant in certain contexts, for example, seeking release on bond, or for some limited circumstances where there's a form of immigration relief available to show positive equities of involvement in the community,鈥� Ahmad said.
Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), says programs like these are crucial to bridging resource gaps caused by an increasing number of 黑料吃瓜网 residents in need of assistance.
鈥淲e're definitely seeing an uptick in requests from those who are undocumented, including those who were documented, who are now undocumented,鈥� Mitchell Salem said. 鈥淚 would normally call this someone who had status, who lost status, but in this administration, there's no difference.鈥�
Mitchell Salem notes a large percentage of those seeking help are residents who came to the United States with documentation and have since had it stripped because of the rollback of programs like Temporary Protective Status (TPS) and humanitarian parole.
Salem says programs like the Elm City Resident Card are important to ensuring that all 黑料吃瓜网 residents are supported under the current administration.
鈥淭his is a state that tries to make all those here feel welcome, and it's increasingly impossible to do that,鈥� Mitchell Salem said.
Mayor Elicker says it's no secret that New Haven prides itself on being a welcoming city. He says he has no intention of trying to avoid the attention of the federal government.
鈥淭he federal government is, in my view, currently implementing very unethical policies and attacking our immigrant communities, claiming that ICE is arresting violent criminals when the overwhelming majority of people that have been arrested in New Haven are not violent criminals,鈥� Elicker said. 鈥淚 don't think it's time to be quiet. I think it's time to raise our voices.鈥�
