IDs for aliens draw fire
Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007
Many Arkansas police departments, banks and businesses are accepting the membership card of a nonprofit organization that works with Hispanic immigrants as a form of valid identification.
Founders of the organization say the card is helping 3, 000 Arkansas immigrants gain access to important services.
Critics, however, say illegal aliens are the only immigrants benefiting from the card. They are buying the card in droves, some say, not knowing that it carries no more legal standing than a membership card at their local video store.
Officials with the Arkansas attorney general’s office are investigating the Latin Community Organization of Malvern, the nonprofit that issues the cards.
“Some [illegal aliens ] think it’s an official, governmentsponsored card,” said Charles Cervantes, state director of the Arkansas League of United Latin American Citizens. “It’s misleading a lot of them.
“ They should stop issuing these cards.” The cards first sparked public debate in early December at a city board meeting in Hope in Hempstead County.
Angelo Zambrano, who helped found the Latin Community Organization, asked the Hope Board of Directors’ permission to expand his group’s outreach efforts to Hope.
Dennis Ramsey, Hope’s mayor, said some board members worried that the cards too closely resemble an Arkansas driver’s license.
The cards read ‘Arkansas’ across the top like a license. They also bear the cardholder’s photo, name and address and list his sex, height and eye color like an Arkansas license does.
The back of the card features the insignias of local police departments and endorsements by local banks.
Philip McLarty, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Hope, spoke against the cards at the meeting.
He said that they could appear “official” to immigrants who do not speak English and are not familiar with the U. S. identification system.
“I held up their card along with my MasterCard and my driver’s license,” he said. “Their card looks a lot more like my driver’s license than it does my MasterCard.” Zambrano said any likeness to the state’s driver’s license is coincidental, and it’s obvious by looking at it that the card is not issued by the government.
The card says “Latin Community Organization” in a prominent position on the front. On the back, the cards read: “This is not a government ID. It is granted for membership purposes only.” William Ross, interim chief of the Malvern Police Department, said mistaking the Latin Community Organization’s ID with a valid driver’s license is impossible. “I don’t think you could confuse a teenage store clerk,” he said.
BIRTH OF A NONPROFIT Zambrano and other Malvern residents founded the Latin Community Organization in 2004. Its original mission was to serve the needs of the city’s growing Hispanic population. The group offers English, civics and General Educational Development classes, computer and money-management training along with translation and housing assistance.
The group’s scope expanded significantly in January 2006 when it forged a partnership with the New Arkansan Resource Network.
The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services created the network after receiving an $ 850, 000 grant from the U. S. Department of Labor.
Mike Kennedy, the Workforce Services Department official who overseas the network, said the money paid for launching workforce centers in Little Rock, Rogers, Russellville and Malvern.
The network primarily acts as a referral service for immigrants.
Immigrants can use the network to get linked with employment agencies, housing providers and other community services.
Zambrano and his brother Paul, who also helped found the Latin Community Organization, are both employed by the New Arkansan Resource Network to implement its programming in Malvern and other parts of southern Arkansas. The Latin Community Organization also has a presence in the resource network’s Little Rock office, Kennedy said.
Barry Ballard, a Latin Community Organization board member, said it’s a natural partnership because the groups’ goals are identical: to help immigrants. The relationship has helped the Latin Community Organization add members in many south Arkansas communities between Little Rock and Texarkana. The membership roll is about 3, 000 today. All members had the option of paying $ 15 for the membership card, Zambrano said, and most bought one. Zambrano estimates that the nonprofit has made at least $ 30, 000 selling membership cards. DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT As the Latin Community Organization’s membership has grown, many entities have started to accept the group’s membership cards as valid identification.
In the group’s hometown of Malvern, for example, acceptance is widespread.
The Police Department takes the cards as a valid form of identification when residents report crimes. Students use the card to register for classes at Ouachita Technical College. Grocery stores and banks will use the card to help members cash checks and open bank accounts.
Acceptance isn’t limited to Malvern, however.
The Latin Community Organization’s Web site is filled with sponsoring police departments and businesses across Arkansas that Zambrano said accept the card as a form of ID.
Faviola Alva, manager of a Bank of America branch in Little Rock, said she accepts the card as secondary identification to open bank accounts.
She knows Bank of America branches in Russellville and Malvern accept the card as well.
Alva said taking the card is no different than accepting a fishing license or an insurance card as secondary ID.
“We want to make it easier for all our customers, not just the Hispanic community, to open accounts,” she said.
Danny Moody, director of public information for the Conway Police Department, said his officers also treat the membership cards as a valid form of identification in some instances.
Often, Conway police officers have no choice. It’s not uncommon for a police officer to encounter Hispanics who want to report a crime and only have the Latin Community Organization membership card as ID. At least with the card, the officers have a clue as to who the individual is and where he lives. The Police Department also has access to the Latin Community Organization’s database to try to find individuals to interview during investigations.
CARD KOSHER ? A number of Hispanic leaders in Arkansas are crying foul over the cards, however.
Cervantes said the Arkansas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens refused to allow the Latin Community Organization to affix its logo on the back of the card.
Eddie Garcia, publisher of the Spanish-language newspaper Amigo News in Hope, said the Latin Community Organization is intentionally trying to mislead illegal aliens into thinking the cards are official ID.
That’s why the group designed the cards to look like drivers licenses, Garcia said, and why they feature endorsements from police departments on the back.
The group’s motive is not just to help illegal aliens gain access to services, Garcia said, but also to generate revenue and buttress membership.
“People are being cheated out of their money,” Garcia said.
Michel Leidermann, editor of the Spanish-Language newspaper El Latino in Little Rock, believes many illegal aliens misrepresent their identities on the membership cards.
The Latin Community Organization demands documents like birth certificates or passports before issuing membership cards, but Leidermann said many illegal aliens present forged documents when applying for cards.
If Mexican citizens need secondary identification, Leidermann said, they should seek it through the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock.
Some cities will not treat cards from the Latin Community Organization as a form of legitimate identification.
The ID is worthless in the Northwest Arkansas city of Rogers, said Mayor Steve Womack.
“I think [accepting the cards ] is extremely flawed and would probably contribute to illegal immigration,” Womack said. “That wouldn’t make it up the flagpole here.” Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D. C., said the situation is similar to attempts in other parts of the country to issue “city IDs.” New Haven, Conn., and San Francisco earlier this year issued identification cards to residents. In San Francisco, the IDs can help cardholders get jobs, access city-run health services and gain library privileges.
“Clearly, the intent of these cities is to make it easier for people who are illegally in the country to live and go about their daily lives,” he said.
Garcia and Leidermann even question the legality of issuing the membership cards.
Gabe Holmstrom, a spokesman for the Arkansas attorney general’s office, said officials are currently investigating the Latin Community Organization and its cards.
Attorney General Dustin Mc-Daniel sued a Jonesboro company in August, claiming the group sold fraudulent international drivers licenses to immigrants.
Zambrano said the Latin Community Organization isn’t trying to deceive anyone.
The group is clear that the cards recognize membership in the organization only.
New members are never promised that the cards guarantee them any type of services, he said. Individual businesses make their own decisions as to whether they want to treat the cards like legitimate ID.
He makes no claims, however, to verifying cardholders’ legal status.
“I don’t know if they are legal or illegal,” Zambrano said. “It’s not something we ask. We don’t work for the Department of Homeland Security.” Even if illegal aliens use the cards to gain access to services, Ballard said he doesn’t see a problem with that.
“Many are victims of predatory business practices of payday loan people, unscrupulous landlords and loan sharks,” he said. “We are just trying to help them engage in the day-to-day business of living here without living in fear.”
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