Following through on a campaign pledge, Mayor de Blasio said Monday that he’ll push to create municipal ID cards so illegal immigrants don’t have to “live their lives in the shadows.”
While the cards would be available to all New Yorkers, they would be aimed at undocumented immigrants who don’t have access to bank accounts, library cards and even memberships at Costco because they can’t produce official photo ID.
The cards could be used to secure apartment leases and MTA senior passes.
But they couldn’t be used for government benefits not otherwise available.
“To all of my fellow New Yorkers who are undocumented, I say: New York City is your home, too, and we will not force any of our residents to live their lives in the shadows,” the mayor declared in his first State of the City address.
He repeated the sentiment in Spanish.
More than a half-dozen cities, including New Haven, Conn., and San Francisco, have introduced similar identification initiatives.
A number have already reported benefits.
One Connecticut study found crime fell by nearly 20 percent in the two years after IDs were introduced in Fair Haven, Conn., de Blasio had noted when campaigning for mayor.
The drop was attributed in part to undocumented immigrants feeling more comfortable interacting with police because they had proof of identity.
“For a diverse city like New York, the benefits will be immense,” said Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. “Such an ID expands opportunities for greater civic and economic integration for all New Yorkers.”
City Hall aides said de Blasio would introduce legislation authorizing the IDs in weeks.
They said talks are needed to get banks to accept the IDs. And they stressed that the IDs would not make someone eligible for a benefit, such as food stamps, that they wouldn’t have otherwise received.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said she was “very excited” by the plan.
As public advocate in 2012, de Blasio sought to introduce legislation approving the IDs, but a bill was never drafted.
A similar effort was introduced in the council in July 2007 but never voted on by the body’s Committee on Governmental Operations.
That bill proposed the city Commission on Human Rights administer the program and required applicants to provide some proof of identity and residence.
The agency would keep card holders’ data on file, but it would not include citizenship status. Fees were to be limited to cover only administrative costs.