In theory a citizen of San Jose, but in practice a person who has been desperately trying to find a way to prove it, Lucinda Rodriguez, who moved from Mexico eight years ago has since then worked hard to support her family, is still an illegal immigrant. Not being able to prove her legal status means she cannot receive treatment at a local hospital, receive a parcel at a mail center or cash a check in a bank, or simply rent a DVD or a CD, unless she has a government issued photo identification. But when the San Jose Translation Services decided to translate all the necessary documentation free of charge she saw some light on the horizon as San Jose authorities approved a community identification card that would be issued by a coalition of civic groups. According to Lucinda, who feels she belongs in San Jose, without the proper identification you can easily get humiliated. In reference to the new Arizona law, according to which failing to supply the proper immigration documents automatically makes you an illegal alien, San Jose is one of the few liberal cities that have made steps toward securing normal life for immigrants by providing them with the proper immigration documents.
The citizens in several other cities, including Indianapolis and Los Angeles, are also issued photo ID cards by the local governments. San Diego has also joined the host of cities in which the immigrants will be provided with ID cards after June 12, while other communities will soon start issuing cards after they have approved programs. According to Carolina Herrera, a San Diego Translator employee and a representative of The Latino Immigration Defense, the liberal cities and Arizona’s lawmakers are working toward the same thing. It was not until last month when a group of senators decided to reveal a draft of a complete immigration reform. This happened after they put forward the calls that have been made by activists for ages and in particular after the terrorist attacks on September 11. According to it, all employees will be required to show possible employers a card containing biometric data, which should keep illegal aliens from working.
However, no permission to work or legal residency is automatically guaranteed by showing such a card. Its more specific purpose will be to ensure immigrants are admitted to services for which the standard identification is obligatory. These cards can be used in San Francisco to seek help from private social service agencies, gain access to doctors’ offices and medical centers, as well as to visit public facilities like libraries for instance. Officially, the government representatives express the view that these cards will give the illegal immigrants a number of important advantages, e.g. those who live in fear of deportation will have more confidence about reporting crimes, while who are victims of crimes can be possibly defended. The legal documentation necessary for the issuing of identification cards has all been translated by the San Francisco Translator. One of their employees, Paola Santiago Lorenzo, who is also a Latino liaison activist, believes that people who live in America must be safe and healthy an identity card program for illegal immigrants will bring this stability. Thus immigrants will be granted access to more services like sending and receiving money, visiting a bank to cash a check or to open an account. In this way immigrants will be enabled to deposit their pay checks, so that they do not carry large sums of cash, which will attractive to thieves.
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