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This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “InterCHANGE,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
One American city opens its doors, and just about everything else, to illegal immigrants
By Kevin Fischer
Sunday, Jul 22 2007, 11:38 PM
Is it any wonder America has an out-of-control problem with illegal immigrants when one of our large cities bends over backwards to accommodate them? IT DOESN’T GET MORE OUTRAGEOUS THAN THIS! I compiled the following information from stories by the Christian Science Monitor and Reuters news service. NEW HAVEN, Connecticut---As many U.S. cities and states arrest illegal immigrants in raids and toughen laws against them, a Connecticut city is offering to validate them under a controversial, first-in-the-nation ID card program.
Starting this Tuesday, New Haven will offer illegal immigrants municipal identification cards that allow access to city services.
Besides serving as identification for bank services and if police ask for ID, the card can be used at municipal locations such as libraries, beaches, and parks – and as a debit card for city parking meters and at 15 downtown shops.
Supporters say the cards will improve public safety and give undocumented workers protections now afforded legal residents. Critics contend it will unleash a flood of illegal immigration, straining services and wasting taxpayer money.
New Haven officials overwhelmingly approved the program last month in a 25 to 1 vote.
Kica Matos, who administers the program for New Haven, said undocumented workers are often targeted by thieves and robbed because they carry cash, a result of not being able to open a bank account.
"Part of the reason they can't open bank accounts is because they don't have forms of identification that were valid," she said.
She said two banks had already agreed to accept the new city card, which will be offered to all New Haven residents, as legitimate identification sufficient for opening an account.
Yale University Law School, based in New Haven, helped research the city's idea and volunteered legal services. Several immigrants' rights groups also helped build up local support for the identification cards.
"We're the only city nationwide to have this program, so it's an opportunity we have to take to be a part of normal life in the community," says Maria, an illegal immigrant living here, who plans to pick up her card when it's available next week. She says illegal immigrants are targeted by muggers, who know they carry cash because they can't get a bank account without an ID.
But New Haven's move has also prompted protests.
"The city is selling out legal Americans," says Bill Farrel, one of a dozen members of the Yankee Patriot Association, which is a New England coalition opposing illegal immigration. The members demonstrated outside City Hall July 1 carrying American flags and wearing hard hats. "The illegals are taking jobs from guys that wear these kinds of hats."
Illegal immigrants account for 15,000 of New Haven's population of 120,000, according to Mr. Farrel, and he expects thousands more will come after the ID program gets under way. That's a theme that critics of the New Haven plan have taken up nationally.
For example, the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC has distributed fliers in 40 states mocking the proposal by urging illegal immigrants to go to New Haven. The fliers included a map with directions to the city.
"Let a few thousand more go there and use their [social] services until New Haven needs to ask for federal assistance," says William Gheen, president of the group, based in North Carolina. The city is committing a felony by abetting illegal immigrants and "any terrorists among them," he charges.
"Maybe New Haven needs to learn, if they want the illegals, then they'll get the illegals," he said.
His flier, in English and Spanish, says: "Come to New Haven CT for sanctuary. Bring your friends and family members quickly."
Fatima, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, said she is eager to apply for the card. "The ID will help me because it's a way to be in this country and get people to know who you are, especially for people who crossed the border and lost their papers," she said. "I feel safe here in New Haven."I’ll bet she does. There are so many things wrong with this story it’s unbelievable, how so many factions stepped forward to assist in the development of the ID card. What next? Flat out amnesty? Oh, wait….we came real close to approving that. There’s no other way to put it. Our country is very, very screwed up when it comes to illegal immigration. DON’T WANT A BIG INCREASE IN YOUR SCHOOL TAXES? CONTACT FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS NOW.
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