Please Follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, Gettr, Truth Social, Twitter

The Elm City Resident ID Card program was officially launched on July 24, 2007, to serve as a secondary form of identification for residents of the City of New Haven and to help "build community trust."

In addition to serving as a form of identification, the ID card can be used "to cash checks (at Start Bank), to help obtain employment, access city libraries, parks, public transit and access food pantries. The card is also helpful as an ID when interacting with the New Haven Public Safety, Police and Fire Departments."

The ID card has been issued to "those recently released from incarceration who have worked with the Office of Community Resilience to help get integrated back into the society of New Haven," for "Youth at Work Program" participants, and of course, for illegal aliens.

It was the first program of its kind in the country.

The idea for the card was proposed in 2005 by Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA), a New Haven-based social justice organization that's still active, and currently sharing their hatred for Trump and ICE.

In the first month of the Elm City ID Card program, from July 24, 2007, to August 29, 2007, New Haven issued 3,010 cards, including 373 cards for children.

The program faced backlash at the time from multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. State Department, the Department of Justice, and the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security, over concerns about potential national security risks since the program served "undocumented" residents.

The program is no less controversial today than when it was first launched.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker certainly knows that.

That's why he just told the folks at the progressively-biased Connecticut Public that the city is "ready" if the Trump Administration tries to challenge the program.

Connecticut Public obliged with a friendly article titled, "New Haven's Elm City ID remains a symbol of inclusion amid federal immigration crackdown."

“If there is an attempt to make any information public about people that have an Elm City ID card, it could potentially put people at risk,” Elicker told Connecticut Public. “If there were some sort of effort to get that information, we would engage with our attorneys to make sure that people's privacy is protected.”

“We collect very limited information as a part of the Elm city ID card. So you know, the card has a photo, name, address, date of birth and signature, and we don’t collect other information about someone,” Elicker said, drawing attention to the fact that immigration status is not required when applying for the Elm City card.

Connecticut Public also reached out to Maggie Mitchell Salem from Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), an NGO that had assisted illegals through its SUN (Services for Undocumented Neighbors) Program, though references to the SUN program have since been scrubbed from the IRIS website.

IRIS had to scale back services after losing federal funding under the Trump Admin.

Mitchell Salem told Connecticut Public that IRIS is "definitely seeing an uptick in requests from those who are undocumented, including those who were documented, who are now undocumented” because of changes in Temporary Protective Status (TPS) and humanitarian parole programs.

Mitchell Salem loves the Elm City ID Card because, “this is a state that tries to make all those here feel welcome," even if they are here illegally.

Indeed, Elicker has boasted about how "welcoming" the City of New Haven is for illegals and has said he's "not worried" about Trump at all.

His city even prohibited employees from using any public funds on Avelo Airlines because it contracted with DHS to conduct deportation flights for ICE.

“The federal government is, in my view, currently implementing very unethical policies and attacking our immigrant communities, claiming that ICE is arresting violent criminals when the overwhelming majority of people that have been arrested in New Haven are not violent criminals,” Elicker said. “I don't think it's time to be quiet. I think it's time to raise our voices.”

It's worth nothing that ICE Enforcement and Removal has picked up at least three criminal illegals who had taken sanctuary in the "welcoming city" of New Haven since June:

• Frank Marlon Guaman, an illegal from Ecuador whose criminal history includes reckless endangerment and unlawful restraint;
• Gladys Samanta Tentets-Pitiur, an illegal from Ecuador whose criminal history includes an arrest for felony risk of injury to a child; and
• Mario Torrez-Lopez, an illegal from Mexico and self-admitted member of the Sureños gang who has been deported from the United States four times — in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022 — and illegally returned and continued to engage in criminal behavior across multiple states.

One has to wonder if Frank, Gladys and Mario had been issued Elm City ID Cards.

‘NO AD’ subscription for CDM!  Sign up here and support real investigative journalism and help save the republic!‘