Critics lining up to oppose Charlotte's city ID
Published July 7, 2014
by Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, July 6, 2014.
The creation of an official Charlotte ID card is still only a proposal, but critics are already lining up, including a national political action group that claims the city’s plan will “aid and abet illegal immigrants.”
Two immigration reform groups – the national Americans for Legal Immigration PAC and NC Listen – say they will press North Carolina legislators to stop cities from creating IDs, which are of most benefit to people who don’t have Social Security numbers.
In Charlotte, that population is made up largely of immigrants of all nationalities who are not in the country legally. They can’t get a Social Security number or apply for a driver’s license, and they are subject to arrest and deportation.
About a half-dozen U.S. cities have already created municipal IDs, which experts see as a way of dealing locally with immigration issues that aren’t being solved on a national level.
Charlotte, like many of those other cities, has an immigrant population that is outpacing the growth rate of both whites and blacks, leading to entire neighborhoods and schools where foreign-born people are in the majority.
City leaders say that accepting them as residents is a practical matter. However, the ID proposal remains controversial and critics question whether it’s legal.
“It’s against federal law to aid and abet people in the country illegally and if this isn’t aiding and abetting, I don’t know what is,” said Ron Woodard of NC Listen.
William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is more blunt. “We will ask the General Assembly to stop any North Carolina city from helping illegal immigrants,” he said.
Charlotte Mayor Dan Clodfelter met with the city’s Immigrant Integration Task Force last month and asked the group to research a city ID program that can be used by all citizens to access community services.
The task force was created to craft policies that will make Charlotte more welcoming to immigrants of all nationalities, particularly those interested in starting businesses.
Recommendations – including whether to adopt a municipal ID program – are scheduled to be presented to the City Council in February.
Background checks at school
The idea of creating a city ID emerged in response to complaints from undocumented immigrant parents that they can’t interact with their own children in school classrooms.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools requires a Social Security number so it can do criminal background checks daily on people who want to do volunteer work in schools. The district recently announced a team is exploring alternative forms of identification that can be used to perform those criminal background checks. It may complete its work later this year.
CMS is independent from city government and would not be required to accept a municipal ID.
Still, Clodfelter said he hoped the new ID might help undocumented parents gain greater access to schools.
“This is a question for the entire community,” Clodfelter said in a statement. “The city, county, school system, law enforcement, community based nonprofits and other agencies need to work together on a review of the options to explore what may be feasible at the local level.”
Hector Vaca of the immigrant advocacy group ActionNC says he has doubts a city ID could be easily used for criminal background checks. To do that, he says the city would have to share ID card specifics with state and federal law enforcement databases – and that’s not necessarily something undocumented immigrants want to see happen.
ActionNC supports municipal IDs, he said, but is waiting to see what Charlotte leaders propose.
“This is another way to identify people, which is something even the police have said would be a good thing,” Vaca said. “I think it’s contradictory when anti-immigrant groups say we need to better identify the people who are in this country, and yet when you give them another tool that helps identify people, those critics say they don’t want it.”
Uses for municipal IDs
The Immigrant Integration Task Force intends to study municipal IDs created by other cities, including a program adopted last month by New York City. That program, which goes into effect at the end of the year, allows any New Yorker, “regardless of immigration status,” to get a government-issued photo identification card from the city. The cards are predicted to cost about $10 per person.
Proponents of such programs say the IDs can accomplish a lot of good, including making communities safer.
A study by the Center for Popular Democracy notes that immigrants who don’t have IDs are often unable to open bank accounts, which makes them easy targets for thieves. Such immigrants are also reluctant to report crimes and/or to visit doctors for conditions that might pose a community health threat, the report says.
Charlotte police say the IDs could also be useful in identifying victims of crimes.
Emily Tucker of Center for Popular Democracy says criticism of ID programs is often based on a mistaken belief that it is all about helping undocumented immigrants. In New York, city leaders are negotiating with museums, sports venues, businesses and banks to have benefits associated with city ID cards.
“Undocumented people may have been the inspiration initially, but I think it undercuts that effectiveness of (winning support for) the card,” she said.
“In New York, we decided to market it to a cross section of New Yorkers, including the LGBT community, homeless advocates, and even the American Civil Liberties Union, which wanted a form of ID with privacy protections: Something people wouldn’t be afraid to apply for.”
July 7, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Norm Kelly says:
Trying to write an editorial while being politically correct is not just hard to follow. It sounds stupid as I'm reading it. I'm confused whether we are talking about immigrants or illegal aliens. The writer seems to refer to both groups as immigrants. Which is not politically correct, it's just wrong.
For instance, when the author writes 'Charlotte, like many of those other cities, has an immigrant population that is outpacing the growth rate of both whites and blacks, leading to entire neighborhoods and schools where foreign-born people are in the majority'. Why would anyone care if immigrants from similar countries/backgrounds seem to gravitate to the same neighborhood to live? Is the author in this case talking simply about immigrants or is the author talking about illegal aliens? Is the influx of foreign-born kids in schools an issue because the schools can't get enough ESL teachers? The ESL classes are overflowing? Or is the issue actually that these are illegal aliens and the authorities are not reporting them to ICE for deportation? If this is a group of illegal aliens, even though the occupier doesn't want to deport future Demon voters, they should still be contacting ICE to report these illegals!
'City leaders say that accepting them as residents is a practical matter'. Really? Not that I'm saying most or the majority of these illegals are Mexican. But how does Mexico respond if an American citizen shows up undocumented and sends their kid to the local school? Does the Mexican gov't step in and deport the entire family? Or does the Mexican gov't throw the entire family in jail? Recent reports indicate that there are no other options that the Mexican gov't uses to respond to illegal aliens! Why are we pussy-footing around with illegal aliens? Their first act is to break our nations laws and we want to reward them with a free education? For what reason? Treat them like residents? How about we treat them like residents of the country they actually belong to? And send them back there! They are LAWBREAKERS first, illegal aliens second, taking advantage of our give-away society, and costing our nation so much that we are going broke. It's time to get serious about illegal aliens and stop referring to them as 'immigrants'. Politically correct just happens to be wrong.
'a city ID program that can be used by all citizens to access community services'. Challenge with this statement. All citizens already have the ability to get proper ID from the state to access community services. It's either a picture ID or drivers license issued by the state. No other ID is required to access community services. And it's not citizens that the Mayor is trying to help out here. It's illegal aliens who have already broken our laws! Which also means the mayor wants to aid & abet criminals; which is illegal.
'The task force was created to craft policies that will make Charlotte more welcoming to immigrants'. This sentence implies that Charlotte is NOT already welcoming to immigrants. When did Charlotte start discriminating against ANY particular group of immigrants? Why hasn't someone already sued the city for discrimination? Or did the author slip into PC mode again? Did the statement actually intend to say that the city wants to be more welcoming to illegal aliens? I expect that Charlotte is no less welcoming to immigrants than Morrisville is, where there is a very large population from the India region. Does Morrisville need to come up with a city ID in order to not discriminate against people from this region? Or is it that there's a large population of illegal aliens that the city of Charlotte is attempting to appease by providing tax-payer funded services at no cost to the illegal aliens who can't get a state ID because they are here illegally? There's a huge difference between being welcoming to immigrants and further breaking the law to aid & abet illegal aliens!
'hoped the new ID might help undocumented parents' break the law even further. Good intentions. Bad outcome. Why do we have laws if no one wants to enforce them? Which law do I get to choose to break? Can I refuse to pay my taxes, state or federal, and still take advantage of gov't services? Can I refuse to obey the speed limit and get away with it for the rest of my life? If I'm cleaning my gun and it discharges, taking out my worst enemy by mistake, can I get off because it's the one law I choose to ignore? Then I can qualify for a city ID so I can continue to get free services from the gov't! Undocumented parents are not undocumented parents. This is PC speak, attempting to pull the wool over people's eyes while they are being robbed blind! The statement is correctly stated 'we want to help illegal aliens who have kids in the school system illegally'...
'mistaken belief that it is all about helping undocumented immigrants'. Actually no, I'm not concerned that anyone desires to help undocumented immigrants. I'm concerned that people are willing to break the law in order to aid & abet illegal aliens. The statement goes on to say that NY is negotiating with various venues to associate benefits with the city ID cards. If this isn't helping illegal aliens, what exactly do you call it? Sounds like giving benefits to illegal aliens to me. Whether you pretty it up and change the name to 'undocumented immigrants', or tell the truth and call them illegal aliens, you are still trying to get benefits for illegals. Which is not just wrong but illegal. Just like the name implies.
Privacy Protections, something that people wouldn't be afraid to apply for. Why would anyone be afraid to apply for any form of ID? Simple answer. Because they are ILLEGAL ALIENS! And their first act in our country is to BREAK THE LAW! I have a state issued drivers license that I am not afraid to have applied for or have my picture taken for. Because I'm not an illegal alien! I hope illegal aliens continue to be afraid to show up at the DMV to get their picture taken and illegally apply for a drivers license. There is no reason that LGBTs need to worry about having a picture ID issued by the state or concerned about privacy matters. Nobody cares if you are gay or anything else when you get your drivers license or it's picture taken. (are LGBTs staying away from drivers license offices in droves because they are worried about privacy? are cops actually going around arresting LGBTs after they've had their state issued id picture taken? because being LGBT is illegal and we all know they need to be rounded up and ??? what a ridiculous statement that is not just unbelievable! it actually helps explain to thinkers how outrageous the claims are by these unthinkers!) This is simply trying to disguise illegal activity in something that doesn't sound as illegal. But it's still illegal, even in the disguise.
