Mayor Bill De Blasio recently launched IDNYC, an identification card program which allows all New Yorkers, including undocumented immigrants, to apply for a municipal ID.
“[F]or hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers this will be the first time they can get any kind of ID,” Mayor De Blasio said in a speech at the Queens Library.
The Mayor continued by saying that the ID, “fulfills a promise that we made – that my administration made and the City Council made – to uplift so many New Yorkers who needed to be recognized and respected. It will give people much greater access to the basic services that are necessary for life in this city.”
The administration claims that the new program will make it easier for NYC residents who are currently without any form of legal identification to access schools, companies, hospital, etc. This includes the estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the city.
One Harlem resident, Valarie, stated that it was, “good for people who don’t currently have ID.” Midway through commenting she was interrupted by a passerby disgruntled at the thought of illegal immigrants having city ID.
In response, Valarie stated that there are certain circumstances that everyone, no matter documentation status need to have identification for such as parents needing to enter schools to pick up their children.
The ID also allows for a one year free membership at 33 of New York’s finest including museums, zoos, and botanical gardens and will also give card holders discounts for a wide variety movie tickets, supermarkets, prescription drugs and more.
Two other cities have adopted similar programs. In 2007, New Haven announced its very own Municipal ID program which has had a recent amount of success. The city of San Francisco also has one as well. New York has been the biggest city to implement the program.
New Yorkers will be able to apply for their own IDNYC in 17 locations around the city including Queens Library in Flushing. The ID will be accepted in all agency’s including the NYPD. Once you sign up, the card will be sent to your home within two weeks.