Now that the Tucson Police Department will not look into people’s immigration status (unless the person is a threat to national security, has gang affiliations or prior felonies), immigration rights advocates plan to focus more of their energy in working with the Tucson City Council and other officials to issue identification cards for residents regardless of their status in this country.
Years-long activist Raul Alcaraz Ochoa says he and other colleagues mentioned the idea to council members several months ago, but they hope to revive the movement. Although the community won a major battle pressuring TPD to scale back its SB 1070 enforcement, their efforts to protect the rights of all, including the undocumented population, continue.
“We are putting this issue at the forefront, and plan to launch a concrete campaign,” Alcaraz Ochoa says.
He has spoken to Councilwomen Regina Romero and Karin Uhlich in the past, and they seemed on board with the idea.
Uhlich says the conversation came up about a year ago, and she greatly recommended bringing Pima County into the discussions so the IDs can function throughout the entire county, not solely within metro Tucson.
“We can consider library cards or something like that, where there is a proof of residency, to be some sort of ID that TPD and other city entities and official entities could use when engaging with residents on whatever matter might be,” she says. “Tying them to a system that is already set up would have the best potential right now.”
New York City’s municipal ID program, launched in January, came up in the conversation. These ID cards are available to residents age 14 and older for free. There is something similar in place in San Francisco, as well as several other municipalities, and it’s made life easier for a lot of people. (You can read more about that on this Al Jazeera article.)
Uhlich wants to look into what a system similar to that would cost here, and whether the city has the infrastructure and personnel to manage it, hence why she proposed the library cards idea, that’s a database already established.
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2015.
WHAT? These people are here in OUR country, ILLEGALLY. Meaning they are breaking the Law. They NEED to be identified and SENT back, freeing up City, County and State resources for Legal Tucson citizens.. not Criminals.
What part of ILLEGAL don’t they understand. There has already been an injunction to stop
this and they cannot proceed with these underhanded tactics. I real there will be an
investigation into the 100,000 already OK’d BEFORE it was supposed to be implemented.
“Read more about that on this Al Jazeera article” What else do we as Americans need to know about this bunch???
Send the whole lot to prison, then, as they do their time for illegal entry, send them back.
If we know who they are aren’t the documented illegals?
Every time I see these articles, I imagine Americans protesting in Canada demanding access to their healthcare and social services. Demanding Canadian driver’s licenses, the ability to work without a temporary resident visa. Demanding to pay the same tuition costs that Canadians pay in their province.
It just not compute. Why is it different for Mexico and our southern neighbors?
This would be really dumb on their part. If you are in the State illegally and get a Municipal id, then your status is known and you are in a database.
hardly criminals, having no papers is a civil offense and the fine is less than a lot of traffic tickets –
8 U.S. Code § 1325 – Improper entry by alien
(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts
Any alien who
(1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or
(2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or
(3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
(b) Improper time or place; civil penalties
Any alien who is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty of—
(1) at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry (or attempted entry); or
(2) twice the amount specified in paragraph (1) in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection.
So the left wants to redistribute more of our tax funded services to illegal entrants instead of sending them back at the border. Don’t use NYC as a comparator–it is run by a Sandinista, Communist who doesn’t believe in borders at all and is watching as the Police fail to enforce the laws given his lack of support for law. Perhaps Obama and the Dems could invite these folks in, but the rest of us want them out of our taxpayer budgets
Here is the part about ILLEGAL that most appear to be missing. If you change the law, they are now LEGAL. Simple. Clean. And the people are recognized as humans. May not work out so well for the racists… but I’m OK with that.
Will they be able to board an airplane with this ID card?
When the Republican Party instituted the Tea party so it would hurt the left the democrats , they sealed their fate as the tea party who has now turned on the republican s. They took control of primary and keotbGOOD RRPUBLUCANS from running. The primary candidates had to say and follow up on HATE TACTICS. RALLYS saw the racists ( non working uneducated RACUSTS) throw wheel chaired REPUBLUCANS out of meetings for being lazy benefit taking people. AND THIS IS HIW WE GOT TRUMPS AND FUTURE SENATOR. KKK LEADER DAVID DUKE. He’s running because he has SUPPIRT of trump thinking KKK and NATZIS. Trump Won not on issues but by calling and HARRASSING fellow REPUBLUCANS. 1: Fat. Lazy sex deviate. Quiet Etc.
THEN AS EACH CANDIDATE LOST TO TRUMP AFTER BEING INSULTED , ((Ex:- dr Carson -,sex deviate Rubio – little boy who did nothing but Rudd coat tails of rich SUPPORTRR). Each candidate with no shame begged for his SUPPIRT to get s job with TRUMP. HE DEGRADED U AND U LIKE A WIMP , with no shame – endorsed u for a job Where’s fat boy Christy who left his state to run itself while he like a bulldog. Begged for future ATTIRNEY General position. While he was facing I being INDITED BY THR FEDS FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES WITH BRIDGE YND DISSSPEARSNCD OF BILLIONS SENT TI CHRISTY FOR HIS PEOPKE DEVASTSTED BY STORM. TRUMP DID PROVE THEY WERE WESK WITH NI CREDDNTIAKS. BUT don’t believe that he defeated good republican candidates for POTUS. TRUMP EXPISED THE REPUBLUCAN PARTY FOR WHAT IT REPRESENTED AND TOOK CARE OF. 😡 THE RICH THE POwerful. how disgusting that after being insulted by trump. PAUL RYAN actually said he didn’t see video of trumps remarks in killing SS HRCLINTON AND it was a joke gone bad – REALLY. do u believe that he couldn’t in this age of fast communication have viewed the video of what he said. ? If speaker house COUKDNT get a video sent to him for review , how weak does it make him. With his job SECURE. RYAN STILL WOULDNT PUT TRUMP DOWN. WHILE RYANS TOP REPUBLUCANS IN PUBLIC ARE NOW VOTING FOR SS HILLARY R CLINTON, with top REPUBLUCANS resigning from party ( 2 SAVE IT) and with NATIONSL poll numbers suppirting SS HRC. PAUL RYAN GAVE THE CINGRESS AND SENATE TO THR DENOCRATIC PARTY. Hey he has his job. To hell with the others. Pause think how each Mbr lead by Rep Spkr house investigated PRES Bill Clinton for sex charges. EACH WAS CHEATING ON THEIR WIVES AND WORSE. @ 3 rep Spkr house resigned thru scandal The last speaker Dennis HASKILL was SEXUALLY ABUSING HIGH SCHOOL BOYS AND PAYING BRIBES TO SUPPRESS THIS. ALL WHILE SPENDING OUR TAX DOLLARS TO THD TUNE OF $44 million. Now u have a potential Predident who has on record cheated his voters by not paying them and leaving a CASINO BANKRUOT
usmcSSGT6067,
That is a pretty good rant. You should clean it up with some serious editing for typos and spellings and post it on a more recent and relevant article. This was from March 2015.