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Mayor de Blasio in 2015 helped launch the largest municipal identification card program in the nation.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the City will not retain future municipal identification cardholders’ personal background information.
“If you don’t have @IDNYC – go and get one,” de Blasio said. “We will never turn over the paperwork to the federal government.”
However, last week a state appeals court agreed with two New York Republican elected officials and ordered the City to retain copies of verifying documents (birth certificates, passports, etc.) that new new applicants need to show in order to receive an IDNYC card.
The municipal ID is a government-issued identification card that is available to all city residents age 14 and older – regardless of immigration status.
Immigrant advocates are worried that the Trump administration will seize the verifying records and deport all cardholders who are here illegally.
“While I myself am an IDNYC cardholder, I am deeply troubled by the current turn of events surrounding the Program, especially in the wake of last month’s presidential election,” said State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst), whose 13th Senatorial District features thousands of immigrants. “[Last Wednesday’s] news that the City must retain background information on existing IDNYC cardholders, as the result of frivolous litigation filed by my colleagues on the Right, is a blow to the safety and security of our City’s undocumented population. Though the City has stated that it will not retain the background information of IDNYC applicants moving forward, I feel compelled to express my concern that new applications under the Program pose a clear risk to the undocumented. While the City may no longer be retaining immigration documents as a precursor to obtaining an IDNYC card, it remains the case that an applicant’s name and address may remain fair game for overzealous government officials, or for future litigants. While I have always been a supporter of moving the undocumented away from the shadows, this time of uncertainty calls for practicality over politics. I encourage all New Yorkers who are contemplating applying for an IDNYC card to weigh the real costs and benefits associated with the risks that are likely to arise under the Trump Administration. As an elected official who represents the United Nations of all Senate Districts, I know my District is ground zero for the incoming Administration’s attempts to target immigrants.”
Still, the administration has indicated that it is “confident” that the City can keep the IDNYC info private.
