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By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
A record number of migrants have signed up to get New York City issued ID cards. As reported by the NY Post, the migrants have been keen to take their first step to becoming NYC residents by obtaining the IDs. The municipal IDNYC cards can be used as personal identification and verification with which to obtain local services including health care and school enrollment for children. The card can also be used for employment, certain financial transactions, and to get a public library card.
The number of new IDNYC cards issued jumped close to 50 percent in 2023, compared to 2022. There were 112,238 IDs doled out between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15, 2023, compared to just 82,085 over the same time frame last year. The jump coincides with the flood of migrants who came to the Big Apple from the Southern borders seeking shelter, the Post reported.
The ID cards can be obtained by anyone 10 years and up regardless of immigration status — so that even illegal asylum-seekers who lack documentation can get the IDs and qualify for services. The initiative was spearheaded by former mayor Bill de Blasio in 2015, who had advocated NYC as a shelter city. It is currently the largest municipal card program in the country.
One of the main processing and enrollment centers for IDNYC applications is at the main Queens Public Library branch in Jamaica, opened since the program first launched. Run by the city’s Human Resources Administration, the center has seen lines of asylum-seekers snaking around the block before it even opens in the mornings. “There’ve been lines wrapped around the building — I’ve seen people starting getting here at 3 a.m.,” said Queens Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott.
Walcott said the migrants come from a wide range of countries, not just Latin America. “It’s an important step in life — having an ID card. We want people to get access to various services,” said Walcott, a former deputy mayor and schools chancellor under former-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “We know from what we have observed that the number of applicants that are seeking IDNYC cards has risen sharply between this year and last year,” said Queens Library spokeswoman Elizabeth de Bourbon.
Mayor Eric Adams’ office has said that granting access to the IDNYC card is part of his administration’s “all-hands-on-deck approach” which will help address the needs of the migrants. “As a result of our efforts to strengthen and expand accessibility to IDNYC for all New Yorkers, we saw a nearly 50 percent increase in new IDNYC enrollments in 2023, when compared with 2022. This comes on the heels of the city expanding the list of eligible documentation for IDNYC to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, including asylum seekers,” said City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak. It was a strategic plan to get newcomers IDs, decided together with city agencies, elected officials, and community-based organizations, and conducted by deploying the IDNYC Mobile Command Center and increasing informational events, she added.
Per the Post, during the winter, the city is requiring applicants to reserve meetings by setting up appointments, so that they don’t need to wait outside in the cold. Queens Library’s bilingual staff helps asylum-seekers with their IDNYC applications, and also helps with their other needs- including for housing, legal assistance, school support, and guiding them to food pantries.
