New Haven Independent

In a brief proceeding free from protesters, the Board of Aldermen THursday night approved a $150,000 in private grant money to fund a second year of the Elm City ID program.

The groundbreaking card allows city residents, regardless of immigration status, access to various city services and proof of identification to open bank accounts. Its passage last year thrust New Haven in the center of a national immigration debate, and prompted federal authorities to try to intervene.

The aldermanic Finance Committee voted unanimously to fund the project at a heated public hearing in October, drawing a crowd of nearly 200. Click here to read about that.

Thursday, there were a couple news cameras but not a protester in sight.

Aldermen voted 23 to 3 to approve the funding.

Fair Haven Heights Alderman Alex Rhodeen stood up in favor of the controversial program.

A year ago, the ID card’s supporters declared it would be an unrivaled success, and “the critics claimed it would lead to Armageddon,” he said. “Happily, it ended up somewhere along the middle.”

At its passage, opponents warned the id card would send a flood of illegal immigrants to New Haven’s shores.

A year and a half later, Rhodeen concluded that the program was “something whose ramifications have not greatly altered the landscape of our great city.”

East Shore Alderwoman Arlene DePino was one of the three aldermen to oppose the measure, along with Aldermen Robert Lee and Gerald Antunes.; Aldermen Charles Blango, Alfreda Edwards, Sergio Rodriguez, and Michael Smart were absent from the vote.

“I’m not in favor of the whole program,” DePino said. “We attract illegal immigrants to the city, and it’s draining our resources,” such as hospitals and schools.