An article in the New Haven, Connecticut Register reports that 25,000 folks in that fair city are of Latino descent -- fully 20% of the population of this small city of approx. 125,000. Of those 25,000 folks, half are in our country illegally. In case you are as bad at math as I am, this means that 10% of New Haven's "residents" are illegal. To put this in perspective, consider that in Des Moines, Iowa, a slightly larger city (200,000) where we only count the LEGAL Latinos, 8% of the population is of Latino descent. To say that New Haven, Connecticut has an illegal immigration problem is a vast understatement. But never fear; New Haven's Democrat mayor, John DeStefano, Jr., has a solution to the illegal immigrant problem: Legitimize their illegal status by issuing them legal IDs. His reason? Basically it boils down to "if you can't beat 'em, legalize 'em, or if not that, at least make it as comfortable as possible for them to live here illegally:

"Let’s be real about why this is happening first of all," said the mayor, who is also a gubernatorial candidate, during a bilingual press conference in City Hall. "The failure of the federal government to recognize and embrace thousands and thousands of hard-working residents, is subjecting those people and their families to abuse and exploitation," he said.

Well Mr. Mayor, as long as we're being real, let's be really real: These people may work their ever-lovin' asses off but they are ILLEGAL ALIENS, YOU MORON. They aren't residents, they are law-breakers and they deserve to be treated as such -- send them back where they came from. But doing the common sense thing would probably be considered "abuse and exploitation" by a guy who considers these folks to be "hard-working, decent members of our society on which we depend everyday."

If you read further in the story however, you find that the mayor has willing accomplices in creating a culture of accommodation of the illegal Latino population in New Haven:

First, and predictably, you've got the requisite "immigrant advocate" group:

Immigrant-advocates say the population badly needs a form of ID but fear federal immigration officials could easily use the information to round up illegals living here peacefully.

"That was a concern, so we consulted the Yale Law School on the legality of doing this," said Kica Matos, executive director of JUNTA for Progressive Action, which hatched the program. "These are uncharted waters."

Ms. Matos is concerned, of course, that the law-abiding lawbreakers (isn't this an oxymoron?) might be harassed by the folks who are legally charged with removing the law-breakers from the country -- and she admits that giving lawbreakers "legal" IDs may be of questionable legality. The mere fact that Matos would utter such blather proves that the absurdity of it is lost on her.

Then, the city administrators such as the police chief:

The ID cards is one aspect, and another is urging local banks to allow immigrants to open accounts without required Social Security numbers.

Without accounts, immigrants are often forced to carry huge sums of cash and can become victims of robbery, said Police Chief Francisco Ortiz Jr. Without IDs, they are remiss to report the crime to police, he said.

"A lot of folks can’t get a legitimate form of ID," Ortiz said. "They need some credentials and we can help them. That goes a long way for the city."

And of course the Latino politicians who love the fact that the city wants to bend over backwards for these law-breakers:

"I commend the mayor on finally realizing this is a legitimate issue and needs to be addressed, but this is only a first step," said Board of Aldermen President Jorge Perez, D-5, who represents a neighborhood in the Hill.

State Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, agreed with Perez.

"Hopefully, we’ll be able to not only translate documents but have people to help the Hispanic community in explaining the documents," Candelaria said. "But, it happened now. I have to commend the mayor on that."

And what little liberal circle-jerk would be complete without the complicity of the lapdog liberal media from whence this story came:

The news of the ID program incensed the leader of a Connecticut anti-immigrant group.

Hate to break it to Andy Bromage, the reporter who wrote the piece I'm quoting from, but to be against illegal immigration isn't anti-immigrant it's ANTI ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION and the fact that Andy doesn't know the difference is one of the major symptoms of New Haven's problem. In fact, the woman with a decidedly Latino-sounding last name who heads said anti illegal immigrant group is the only one who is making any sense in this whole story:

"Does anybody in New Haven understand that they are breaking the immigration law?" said Elise Marciano, Danbury chapter president of the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control.

Apparently if they do, Ms. Marciano, they don’t care. Because it is readily apparent that New Haven Connecticut has an illegal immigrant problem because they want to have one – they actively court illegal immigrants, accommodating them in every way, shape, manner and form, welcoming them with open arms. Issuing legal IDs to illegal aliens is just a natural extension of the idiocy that obviously runs rampant in New Haven city government. But we know that New Haven isn't alone. In nearly every state in the country you'll find Democrats and their liberal groups pushing for providing driver's licenses, IDs, social services and every other amenity under the sun to illegal aliens and screaming racism and intolerance at anyone who opposes this ridiculousness.

On it's face, it would seem that New Haven Mayor DeStefano and the rest of the liberal politicians in New Haven are just incompetent partisan jackasses who find it easier to pander to illegal aliens than deal with the problem. But we all know there's more to it than that. As was mentioned earlier in the story, DeStefano is a candidate for Connecticut governor and as such, pandering to the liberal’s newest constituency, legal and illegal aliens, is job one. And aliens, legal or illegal, are all the same when it comes to recruiting the illegitimate vote that conservatives dare not challenge for fear of being labeled "racist". We know it happens -- I've experienced the pressure of a liberal group trying to badger me into allowing an ineligible "voter" time off to vote myself -- and we know what the setup is: How dare we challenge a dark-skinned person's eligibility to vote? To challenge their eligibility to vote by requiring them to produce an ID is to "disenfranchise" the poor "voter". Witness the fit that liberals are throwing in Georgia in reaction to a law that requires voters produce IDs at the polls. The fact that Georgia is sending around a welfare ID-mobile to give away state IDs for free isn't even good enough for the libs: They are still screaming that having to produce an ID places an undue burden on the "poor and minorities" -- code for voters who are probably illegal. So back in New Haven, Mayor DeStefano curries favor with the Latino community by dropping his drawers and grabbing his ankles for illegal immigrants by, among other things, giving them IDs they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get in hopes of being able to recruit them as "voters" in the gubernatorial election. You can bet that DeStefano and the rest of his liberal cronies would scream bloody murder if someone came up with a plan to require everyone to produce IDs at the polls. But a sure as the sun comes up in the morning, you can bank on some liberal group in Connecticut having a voting drive that targets "minorities" and doesn't really give a rat's ass whether these "minorities" are actually eligible voters or not. It happens in my state and my state has less of a problem with illegal immigrants than Connecticut obviously has. Why wouldn't it be happening in Connecticut?

What's happening in New Haven Connecticut is just part of a trend among Democrats and liberals across the country. The only place you really see liberals trying to deal with the illegal immigrant problem is in the Southwest border states where political pressure has built to the point that they can't ignore the problem anymore. And even in the cases of New Mexico and Arizona, governors Bill Richardson and Janet Napolitano respectively have done dramatic reversals from wanting to give illegals every conceivable government service on a silver platter -- including IDs -- to begging the federal government for help in securing their borders. The illegal immigrant issue is a tough one to be sure and many so-called conservatives don't want to deal with it either. Certainly, President Bush's amnesty program is the exact wrong way to approach the problem. But as much as Bush wants to curry favor with the legal Latino citizens in this country, Democrats and liberals could care less if the Latinos they cater to are citizens, much less in the country legally -- they want to try to get the votes anyway they can. Cultivate the illegal vote on the one hand while pushing to liberalize voting laws even further, screaming racism and disenfranchisement if someone attempts to ascertain a voter's credentials to vote on the other: That's the Democrats game. And it appears that a certain Connecticut mayor is learning how to play it.