New Haven Independent

Those conclusions are drawn from interviews with immigrants in the neighborhood — some here legally, others not — in the wake of last week’s raids.

City officials say they’re moving ahead with issuing the new ID cards by July 1, even though they believe the federal raid was in retaliation for the new program. (The feds deny it.)

Comments from immigrants interviewed the past few days ran the gamut — from, “It will include all residents in the life of the community” to “It will send the undocumented straight to jail, do not pass Go.”

One group of young Latino men, gathered around an ice cream vendor on Blatchley Avenue in Fair Haven one recent evening, said they would never participate in the city’s Municipal ID program.

“It’s like giving your name to Immigration,” said one man in the U.S. without benefit of papers. “That’s why all our friends are prisoners now. It was a good idea in principle but now we realize that many of the people who had ID cards were those who were arrested. Why? Because it had their names, their address, their birth dates.”

But the program doesn’t exist yet. The belief that the ID cards led directly to the arrests last week is just one more rumor swirling wildly through the ‘hood.

This same young man accused the very people who have worked hard to bring the ID to fruition — Mayor John DeStefano; Kica Matos, former director of Junta for Progressive Action and now the city’s community services administrator; and John Jairo Lugo of the grassroots group, Unidad Latina en Acción — of delivering undocumented residents into the clutches of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

On the other hand, Dominican immigrant Vincent Martinez (pictured) said he supports the ID cards and the city administration. “I think the city really wants to help people,” he said while watching a softball game Sunday afternoon at Criscuolo Park in Fair Haven. “I don’t think it’s a trap.” He said he’s a legal immigrant and that he’d obtain a card when they go on sale.

So would Hector Santiago, a Puerto Rican who doesn’t have to worry about la Migra, since all citizens of the island were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917.

“I’d buy one for convenience and in solidarity,” he said, “because we are all Latino. What they are suffering, I feel for them. I don’t agree with the raids. They are not criminals; they’re just workers who are trying to support their families.”

Santiago was hanging out on Blatchley Street with his brother, Alfonso, and three Ecuadorean neighbors, relaxing on their porch with some beers after work.

One of them, Angel, said he plans to get a card but is a little apprehensive. “My worry is that my friends and I who are working here to benefit our families, I want us to have identification. We have always done the right thing to support our families — we haven’t done anything bad.” He saud ge hopes the raid on June 6 won’t make people too afraid to sign up for the cards.

Santiago is a chef at Southern Connecticut State University, while the three undocumented men all work in construction.

Carlos Jaime (pictured second from left in photo above), another Dominican immigrant watching the ball game on Sunday afternoon, praised the city, calling DeStefano “the main man” promoting the welfare of immigrants. Of those undocumented residents living in fear, those the city says it wants to bring out of the shadows, said Jaime, “The community should be proud of them and at the same time they [the undocumented] should be proud of the community, because they’re gaining that help from the community.” Jaime said he is in the country legally.

Most of the people interviewed — documented or not — seemed to have a pretty good understanding of what the cards will and won’t do. But misconceptions surfaced, too — that the cards allegedly would allow undocumented residents to work legally or allow them (or require them) to pay taxes, for instance. Those working without a Social Security number can file taxes now, by getting an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). That’s one of the programs Yale law students looked at when researching the legality and practicality of creating the municipal ID, to see if the undocumented used ITINs or were too afraid of prosecution to file taxes that way. They found ITINs are used quite extensively; their use has not led to crackdowns by ICE, the federal immigration agency. Immigrant advocates say the undocumented often file taxes using their ITIN in hopes of promoting their chances for citizenship.

Kica Matos said the idea for the ID cards didn’t originate with City Hall or even the service organizations, but in response to an oft-expressed critical need from the undocumented themselves for some kind of protection from assault and robbery. She also emphasized it’s a multi-use card for all residents. As for the chilling effect the immigration raid could have on the program — which she has vowed to roll out on schedule July 1 — she said, “We have our work cut out for us in trying to undo the damage the federal government did. A lot of people don’t make a distinction between municipal, state and federal government. So we’re going to do everything we can to educate the community about what the card is, what we’ve done to protect the privacy of people who apply for the cards, and talk about the multiple uses of this card.”

“We are very cognizant of the fact that people are scared,” said Matos. “We are looking at ways to make sure we address these concerns” through alternative methods of signing people up. Matos added that almost 900 people signed cards at last week’s mass rally at St. Rose’s church pledging to register for IDs. She also said immigrants have continued to come to City Hall to inquire about obtaining cards. Click here to hear more of her thoughts on the subject.

“This is not going to be a good source of information to the feds,” said Bob Solomon, director of Yale Law School’s legal services clinic. Solomon’s clinic has helped the city develop the ID plan and has helped the immigrants arrested last week. “The card doesn’t really tell you anything — just name, address, and photo. The feds have much better sources of information. I’m sure they’ll try to get a list, and we’ll fight it. But I can’t imagine if and when it’s in their hands — or the hands of anti-immigrant groups — it will help them very much.”

Solomon noted that one way to water down the usefulness of the list is for citizens to sign up too. “Anyone who supports our neighbors who are undocumented,” he said emphatically, “should get a card.”