After nearly four years of organizing, the immigrant community in New Haven, Conn., won a major victory on June 4 when the city’s Board of Aldermen voted 25-1 to approve a municipal identification card program.
The program will provide identification cards to all who apply, including undocumented immigrants. In New Haven, a
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New Haven is the first city in the United States to establish an ID program that covers undocumented people. It is a progressive development won by the struggle for immigrant rights that has swept the country since March 2006. The municipal ID cards will be recognized as official identification within the city limits.
The program is also a deliberate rebuke to the government-sponsored repression facing undocumented people.
The federal government swiftly moved to attack the program by sending Immigration and Customs enforcement goons into New Haven’s immigrant neighborhoods. The agents conducted raids, arresting 31 undocumented immigrants just two days after the ID program was approved.
The government wanted to punish the residents of New Haven for standing up for equality and against the criminalization of immigrants.
The racist raids caused widespread community outrage. More than 1,500 people rallied on June 8 denouncing the roundups.
Kica Matos, who oversees the local department that assists immigrants, told the crowd, “Today we are picking up the pieces from the raiding of our houses, taking people away, and traumatizing children. We’re here to say: New Haven is not backing down. We will continue to create a path for justice.” (New Haven Independent, June 8)
Despite the repression, the ID program is set to be implemented in July. The program will benefit all New Haven residents. For many, it is difficult to obtain a state-issued identification from the Department of Motor Vehicles because the DMV office is located in another city. Youth of all ages will also be able to get a municipal ID.
The municipal ID card can also be linked to a bank account that is provided as part of the program. It can be used as an ATM card. This feature is especially important to undocumented immigrants who are frequent victims of robbery and assault. Because they lack legal status in the United States, they are unable to open bank accounts and are forced to carry cash with them or keep it in their homes.
The cards can also be used to pay city parking meters, check out library books, and gain access to city parks, as well as many other city services.
In the weeks leading up to the ID vote, anti-immigrant organizations sent racist e-mails and vicious hate letters to the Board of Aldermen denouncing the program. The groups also posted racist flyers around the city that attempted to pit the African American community against immigrants.
The divisive tactics backfired. In effect, they created more support for the municipal ID program among New Haven residents and city officials, who organized a press conference denouncing the racist messages.
Part of the national struggle
The struggle in New Haven should be viewed in connection with the national debate on immigration.
Last year, the world witnessed a dramatic upsurge in the struggle for immigrant rights. In response to the draconian
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The mobilization of millions of workers forced the issue of immigration into the national spotlight. Congressional bills and “compromises” contemplating some form of legalization have been floated and sometimes vigorously debated in Washington.
Without this massive upsurge, New Haven’s municipal ID program likely would have never been put forward or passed.
Facing a movement of millions demanding democratic rights, the ruling class mobilized against it. It aimed to crush the movement by force while also persuading some within the movement to channel their efforts into “safe” outlets like lobbying and voting.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants have been deported by federal authorities in 2007 alone. Local governments introduced and, in some cases, passed racist “English only” and similar laws. And bourgeois pundits and media outlets supported the growth of neo-fascist groups like the Minuteman Project.
To the U.S. ruling class, all of these forms of repression are acceptable responses to the immigration issue.
The capitalists—Democrats and Republicans alike—want to prevent the movement for immigrant rights from reasserting itself as a major power. They want to prevent more cities from decisively taking sides in the struggle for equality as New Haven has done.
Organizing against anti-immigrant repression and demanding, “Full legalization now” is more important than ever.
