Immigrant Participation, Protections Eyed

Should non‑U.S.-citizens be allowed to serve on local government committees like the City Plan Commission or the Board of Library Directors? 

And should the Health Department be allowed to crack down on restaurants for committing wage theft or worker harassment?

Those immigrant-focused questions rose to the fore during two recent meetings by the Board of Alders: one about the latest in the city’s charter revision process, the other a public workshop about municipal services for immigrant residents of New Haven.

The board-and-commissions question emerged as alders weighed long-brewing quandaries about the city’s foundational document on Wednesday evening, including whether the mayor and alders should serve four-year terms. In the process, one alder in particular, Alex Guzhnay, made his case for making it easier for immigrants who do not have American citizenship to serve on boards and commissions and participate in city governance.

He raised that issue during a ​“Committee of the Whole” meeting that the Board of Alders held on Wednesday in the Aldermanic Chamber at City Hall. The meeting marked the latest in New Haven’s once-in-a-decade charter revision process.

Having received a list of recommended changes to the city charter from the Charter Revision Commission, alders now have a brief window of about a week and a half to submit feedback and work on changes before a public hearing on June 20.

There is still much work to be done before that public hearing. 

In addition to debating the Commission’s recommendation for four-year terms for mayor, alder, and city clerk, and a host of other changes, the alders must also take up the commission’s unanswered question of whether city department heads should have to live in New Haven. Those debates did not unfold in public on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, consulting attorney Steve Mednick and Majority Leader Richard Furlow are rushing to determine whether strict outlines of every city department, board, and commission are necessary to include in the charter — or whether some can be excised and re-established in the form of an ordinance, which can be changed far more easily. 

Ultimately, voters will get to decide on all of these matters in November when one or multiple charter-revision questions make their way onto the ballot.

During Wednesday’s ​“Committee of the Whole” meeting at City Hall, as Mednick and Furlow discussed which city government entities should be named in the charter, Guzhnay took the opportunity to ask about the possibility of changing the only requirement for members serving on boards and commissions: that they be ​“electors” — eligible voters — within the city of New Haven.

That requirement excludes immigrants living in New Haven who have not obtained American citizenship.

Guzhnay asked Mednick whether anything in the charter issues ​“qualifications for Boards and Commissions that apply everywhere.”

The charter does, indeed, currently require that every member of every board and commission be an ​“Elector of the City.” That includes the Charter Revision Commission itself. Applicants who are not electors can be granted exceptions by way of a ​“waiver” issued by the Board of Alders through the legislative process. 

Furlow extrapolated from Guzhnay’s question: ​“Are you headed towards the addition of undocumented immigrants?” 

“I think it would be great to explore that,” Guzhnay said.

He pointed out that the idea of including immigrants on boards and commissions was floated, though not acted upon, at the last charter revision process in 2013. His question came a few days after alders held a separate workshop on immigrant rights in the city, part of an effort among several legislators to better include immigrants in public decision-making (see more on that below).

Mednick said on Wednesday he would have to look into whether New Haven has the legal authority to allow undocumented immigrants and other non-citizens — anyone who doesn’t qualify as an ​“elector” — to serve on boards and commissions. 

“It might make sense if residency can be proven,” Furlow said.

He expressed doubt that allowing for proof of residency by Elm City ID cards, a municipal identification system designed to be accessible to undocumented residents, would genuinely open the door for immigrants.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Fair Haven/East Rock Alder Claudia Herrera expressed support for Guzhnay’s idea. She argued that alders should also create a new committee to monitor the other boards and commissions — a group that, should the elector requirement be eliminated, could potentially take up the question of whether immigrants are truly able to access these public positions.

“There’s a lot of talent in this area” among non-citizens, Herrera said on Thursday. ​“We have doctors. We have architects. We have teachers” — all of whom can ​“bring something different to the table.”

Guzhnay elaborated on Thursday that his question was inspired by his own experience growing up in the immigrant-rich neighborhood of Fair Haven. ​“We thought this would be a small way to help access — open the doors — to certain boards and commissions in the city,” he said. ​“We always hear that there’s a need to fill these vacancies, that there’s not enough people signing up. … Folks that belong to immigrant communities — undocumented or folks who have green cards — they’re interested in helping serve.” 

Guzhnay argued that the waiver process for non-electors is too arduous a barrier for potential board and commission members who aren’t U.S. citizens. He said that residency in New Haven can be proven by a range of documents, including leases and utility bills.

“I think it would be great for New Haven to be on the front lines” of embracing immigrants as civic participants, Guzhnay said.

Health Law Pitched For Worker Protections

That question about if and how non-elector residents should be able to serve on city boards and commissions was raised less than a week after Guzhnay co-chaired a separate City Hall meeting all about municipal government services for immigrants.

A joint meeting of the City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) and Health and Human Services Committees held the workshop on June 1 in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

The only item on the agenda was a proposed order calling for a workshop regarding ​“equitable civic, social, and economic opportunities for immigrant residents of the City of New Haven.”

While the committee alders did not vote on any specific pieces of legislation on June 1, they did hear from Yale Law School student Eamon Coburn about a tentative proposal that would empower the Health Department to step in to protect immigrant workers at restaurants.

That proposal — as detailed during Coburn’s presentation and in an accompanying slideshow document — calls for an ordinance that would allow the Health Department to ​“suspend or revoke food and beverage licenses of businesses violating applicable work and labor laws.”

He argued that such a public health-focused intervention by city government could go far in protecting food service workers, including undocumented immigrants, who suffer from exploitative business practices like wage theft and worker harassment.

“This is not a novel idea,” Coburn stressed during his presentation to the committee alders. At least two other cities, San Francisco and Santa Clara, have already adopted similar programs to this proposed New Haven ordinance.

Mayor Justin Elicker told the Independent in a Friday email comment that the city’s Office of Corporation Counsel and Health Department are currently reviewing the health-labor ordinance proposal at the Board of Alders’ request.

He added that his administration has worked to support the local immigrant community by, for example, ​“strengthening our sanctuary city status with our Welcoming City Executive Order and other measures, so immigrant residents can live, work and access services without fear alongside their fellow New Haven residents.”

“We want to do everything we can to make sure everyone is protected and treated fairly and equitably in the workplace, and we know immigrant and undocumented residents are more vulnerable to wage theft, worker harassment and other threats from employers,” Elicker continued. ​“I encourage anyone who believes they are a victim of wage theft or any crime to call and file a report with the New Haven Police Department, so they can investigate the matter and take action, as appropriate, and also to call and file a wage complaint with the Connecticut Department of Labor, which has statutory authority on those matters.”

What About The Elm City ID?

Also during the June 1 workshop, city Registrar of Vital Statistics Trish Clark updated the committee alders on the latest with the Elm City Resident ID card — a first-in-the-nation municipal ID program that dates back to 2007. It was designed to protect and welcome immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, by allowing them to open local bank accounts and access parks and public libraries.

During her presentation to the alders, Clark explained how her office still issues plenty of such cards — usually around 150 to 320 a year. However, they are exclusively a form of secondary ID, and no longer are attached to some of the supplemental services they used to be.

Clark explained that the Elm City Resident ID card is a ​“secondary form of identification.” In order to receive one, child or adult residents must provide a valid passport, U.S. driver’s license, consular ID card, or U.S. or foreign military identification card. If applicants don’t have any of those, they must present two of the following documents: a national identification card, foreign drive’s license, Visa, and/or ITN card.

In addition to those ID requirements, applicants must also provide two of the following: a utility bill with name and address, insurance bill, bank statement, employment pay stub, voter registration card, and/or other ​“original documents from a health or social services organization attesting to the fact that the applicant is a New Haven resident.”

When this card first came out, Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller noted, it really was ​“pioneering” — in part because it was tied to other services, like library access. Is that still the case?

“It’s a benefit as a secondary ID,” Clark said. But ​“it’s no longer tied to the library to be a library card. There’s no money tied to it” except for the pilot program the city and 4‑CT recently launched for a small group of formerly incarcerated New Haveners. It can help one cash checks at New Haven Bank, she added. ut ​“it’s morphed quite a bit over the years,” well before her time in the vital statistics office.

“That was really part of what made it so important for the immigrant community, because it tied to services,” Miller said. Plus, it ​“wasn’t just a document for the immigrant community. It was something everyone wanted to have, because it was useful.”

Clark said that young people who apply for Elm City Resident ID cards today often do so because they want some form of ID before they’re old enough to get a driver’s license, and especially if their schools don’t issue IDs. She said adults apply for these cards for a variety of reasons, but primarily because they just want a secondary ID.

Just to be clear, Guzhnay asked, can someone use a passport from another country as a primary form of ID in order to apply for and receive an Elm City Resident ID card?

Yes, Clark said. ​“As long as it’s valid. We look at the dates.”

During the public testimony section of the meeting, several restaurant workers, including at the former Andy’s restaurant on Long Wharf, came forward to speak out in Spanish (with Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez translating into English) about alleged wage theft and harassment they’ve experienced during their time in New Haven’s food industry. 

Everyone who spoke out urged the alders to pass a health and labor ordinance like the one detailed by Coburn towards the start of the meeting.

That included Unidad Latina en Accion lead organizer John Lugo. The state Department of Labor doesn’t have enough agents to investigate and rule on claims of wage thefts submitted by workers today, he said. ​“The City of New Haven can create their [own] policies to fight wage theft.”

He also criticized the Elicker administration for not doing enough to ​“reactivate” and promote the Elm City Resident ID card program, and the Board of Alders for not passing an ordinance enshrining in local law that New Haven is a sanctuary city.

Before the meeting wrapped up for the night, East Rock Alder Anna Festa promised that the committee would host another such workshop in the fall focused on municipal services for immigrants. And Miller urged her colleagues and City Hall to look seriously at passing a law empowering the Health Department to crack down on restaurants that violate worker laws.

“We heard very personal and very tough testimony” tonight, Guzhnay said at the end of the meeting. ​“I myself am the son of undocumented immigrants” who, with lots of help, were able to ​“get their documents in order” and ​“fully contribute to this country and this city.”

“I’m glad folks came out tonight,” he said, as he promised, ​“We’ll have a second workshop to continue this conversation here.”