“Tell me who represents the best of America — who’s outside or who’s inside”
by Melissa Bailey
When City Hall opened its doors for the first members of the public to sign up for the city’s http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1198 new ID card, so many people showed up that the line — including many undocumented immigrants— still snaked down the hallway at closing time.
By day’s end, officials reported that 250 people signed up for their Elm City Residency Card. The office stayed open an hour later to accommodate some of the extra crowd; others were told to return on Wednesday.
Visitors signing up for the city’s new Elm City Residency Card passed through a gauntlet of protesters on the way into City Hall. The line included undocumented Mexican immigrants, like Jaime Rojas who saw the card as an “opportunity” for a safer life.Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. commended undocumented immigrants for their “courage” in enduring the suburban hecklers on their way in. “Tell me who represents the best of America — who’s outside or who’s inside,” he said.
Organizers called the turnout a success: “There were a lot more people than we expected,” said mayoral staffer Emily Byrne.
The office, on City Hall’s first floor, will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays for people wishing to obtain a card.
After a soft launch Monday, city officials kicked off the program officially Tuesday morning with a ribbon-cutting at the new Office of New Haven Residents inside City Hall. The new ID card, available to all city residents regardless of immigration status, facilitates access to a range of municipal services and serves as a photo ID. (Click here to read more about it.)
The city created the program because U.S. legislators “don’t have the will to pass a coherent border strategy,” the mayor said Tuesday. Instead legislators have allowed immigrants to move here, but forced them to be “invisible,” said the mayor.
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/07/immigrants_line.php