New Haven approves ID card

From the Hartford Courant:

NEW HAVEN -- The board of aldermen overwhelming approved Monday a municipal identification card that will be available to all residents, including illegal immigrants, making the city the first in the nation to issue such documents, city leaders said.

[...]

The need for the IDs has been cast as symbolic and pragmatic. Supporters argued that liberal New Haven had a moral obligation to extend a welcoming hand to undocumented immigrants.

[...]

City officials also wanted to respond to the growing number of robberies of illegal immigrants, who often carry cash or keep it in their homes because they cannot open bank accounts without official identification.

One of the immigrant parishioners at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Fair Haven was stabbed to death last year when he resisted a robber, the Rev. Jim Manship said. The IDs will instantly make immigrants safer because the cards also are a limited debit card, accepted at about 50 local businesses, Manship said.

Read the entire article at the Courant.