Residents that previously felt left out of the community have now been incorporated into the business and social life of our city.
By Wilda Diaz
There has been a lot of talk during this presidential campaign about building walls and religious litmus tests for immigrants. I want to declare in the strongest possible way that those are false solutions for our nation and cities and neighborhoods.
We need to bring people together not divide them. We need to celebrate their differences not reject them. As the mayor of Perth Amboy, I have seen what we can achieve when we all work together to build a unified city -- a city for everyone no matter where you were born.
One way to approach this locally is by establishing municipal identification card programs across our nation. Last October, I established a task force to study the possibility of developing a municipal identification that could be used by those unable to get a driver's license or passport. The task force consisted of business, religious and community leaders and they strongly recommended the concept; and so in March, I moved ahead.
I knew the program had been successful in other municipalities such as Newark, Asbury Park and Trenton by providing access to city agencies, schools and cultural institutions.
It helps marginalized people in the community such as the disabled, formerly incarcerated individuals, the homeless, and immigrants.
In less than five months more than 1,000 city residents have taken advantage of the program. Residents that previously felt left out of the community have now been incorporated into the business and social life of our city.
This municipal identification card benefits not only immigrants, it is often used by veterans, those who are homeless, the elderly and other residents of Perth Amboy as a convenient, easy and inexpensive way to have a picture identification when they need it to gain access to valuable services.
Those acquiring the card are now able to take advantage of local discounts offered by merchants in our bustling downtown. They are able to get a public library card and engage their minds. They can use it to qualify for a wide variety of city-sponsored programs.
Cities are the first destination for most immigrants. Places like Perth Amboy, Newark, Jersey City, Camden and New Brunswick are where immigrants receive their first civic lessons about our great country. It is where immigrants learn a new way of life while striving to preserve what is best about their old ways.
According to the last Census, about 39 percent of our residents are foreign born, many of them from Latin America including the Dominican Republic and Mexico. About 78 percent of our total population is Latino.
Given those demographic realities, we cannot accept the divisive rhetoric espoused by the Republican presidential candidate and his politics of scapegoating. Places like Perth Amboy welcome many new residents every year and we need to incorporate them and build a community with them and for them.
Municipal identification cards are a step in the right direction. I encourage all municipalities currently considering the idea to move ahead with it. You will not regret it. (In Perth Amboy, secure a municipal identification here.)
A photo and an address on a piece of plastic may seem like a simple thing but it fosters an identity and a recognition that the recipient is part of a community. This is what we want in Perth Amboy - a community for everyone. This is what we should want as a nation.
Wilda Diaz is mayor of the city of Perth Amboy.