Re: Why you should get an Elm City ID Card

New Haven has begun handing out Resident Cards to any persons bringing proof of identity and residency.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22234

The student mailing list here has been getting posts urging everyone to get a card in solidarity with the undocumented immigrants this program is supposedly to benefit. And of course, Yale being Yale, someone replied accusing arguments in favor of solidarity with "illegal immigrants" of being "disingenuous." Oh noes!1 someone who doesn't love all immigrants and worship at the feet of the Mexicans coming to take the jobs no one else wants!!

Of course, the person initially starting the debate was only playing the devil's advocate, not really one of those evil, heartless conservatives we're warned about. And 53 posts later, the storm has finally died down (or so we can all pray). The consensus? Resident card good, cheap immigrant labor without taking up social resources good, ICE raids bad, accusing ICE of Nazism bad, killing Native Americans and enslaving Africans bad, dehumanizing immigrants bad, empirical studies and economics good, interrupting serious discussion with hilarious cartoons good... the point is there is no consensus. YLS students are a smart bunch (multiple Law Review articles, books, and court decisions cited in the course of those 53 emails), but really volatile. Apparently anything at all is capable of setting us off.

Oh, and among the first years there's a "small group competition" to see who can get the most people in each small group to go get a card on Friday. The prize? An autographed Dean Koh bobblehead. I'll be getting a card; they're good for parking meters and it's a royal pain to find enough coins always laying about to pay those things. Oh yeah, and, I think it's a pretty cool initiative and I hope it's successful.