2012 Articles
Documenting the Undocumented: A Review of the United States' First Municipal ID Program
The City of New Haven, CT, sought to promote the assimilation of its immigrants by becoming the first American city to provide a government-backed ID, the Elm City Resident Card, to all residents. This article tests the policy's effectiveness in commerce. We find that Hispanics/Latinos are asked to present an ID more than Whites/Anglos, showing that the former are in greater need of documentation, regardless of their citizenship status. When a Hispanic/Latino presented the Elm City Resident Card to a cashier, it fared only as well as an unofficial ID. Thus, we conclude that the card has negligible utility as a form of documentation.
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- Documenting the Undocumented.pdf application/pdf 5.01 MB Download File
Also Published In
- Title
- Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy
More About This Work
- Academic Units
- School of International and Public Affairs
- Published Here
- May 11, 2017