Oakland Introduces Landmark Undocumented Immigrant Debit Card Program Aaron Sankin - The Huffington Post
go to original March 1, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO - The city of Oakland began issuing combination photo identification and debit cards earlier this month to any city resident who applies for one, even those who also happen to be undocumented immigrants.

"The ID is a wonderful symbol of Oakland, saying we're all Oakland residents," Jesse Newark, executive director of the advocacy group Centro Legal, told Oakland North. "Whatever the federal stance on immigration, or people's legal status, they can still feel recognized as part of the community where they live."

But the program has drawn the ire of both anti-immigration and privacy advocates, who have respectively argued that the cards amount to a local amnesty policy and that they could open up the cardholders to fraud or identity theft.

According to Dr. Paula Cruz-Takash of UCLA's North Americam Integration and Development Center, which helped design the program, the cards have already proved wildly popular. Oakland issues between 200 and 250 a day to both its immigrant population and other marginalized communities.

"The program isn't just for undocumented folks," she explained to The Huffington Post. "The aim is to provide identification and banking services to lots of groups who need it."

Read the whole story at The Huffington Post

Undocumented Immigrants Get IDs in Los Angeles (HuffPost Live)

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