On March 14, 2013, Atlantic Cities magazine featured an article touting the ingenious banking model of the Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU), initially chartered in response to a crime wave in Durham, NC where Latinos were targeted for robberies because they were more likely to carry cash. According to the article LCCU accepts IDs issued from foreign countries and offers services in both Spanish and English, thus making it a very attractive place for Latinos to bank. The article states that LCCU now has 10 branches across North Carolina and in each county in which LCCU has opened a branch, robberies dropped by 4.2%.
This concept is not foreign to Connecticut. Six years ago, New Haven became the first city in the country to offer undocumented immigrants municipal identification cards that allow access to city services and a chance to open bank accounts. On the program’s 5th anniversary, the New Haven Independent reported that crime in Fair Haven decreased by 20% in the program’s first two years. The article attributed this to the effect that the ID cards had on bolstering relationships between the immigrant community and police which, among other things, resulted in an increase in crime reporting and witnesses willing to come forward.
Connecticut also has a new DMV policy which makes young people who are eligible for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA or DREAM Act) immigration program also eligible for a state driver’s license. This affords these residents the opportunity to do other things for which a driver’s license is a necessary form of identification, such as open bank accounts. Time will tell the effect that this new policy may have on the number of robberies in immigrant communities across the state.
