New York City Officials are making it easy for illegal aliens who live in the city to get a residency card. This will make it easier to access housing and healthcare for free.
City Council passed an amendment, backed up by Mayor Eric Adams. This change allows immigrants to provide 23 more types of identification in order to get a New York City residence card.
The New York Post stated that among the forms of ID that immigrants could provide were an expired driver’s license, documents issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and more than 100 other types of ID to get an IDNYC Card.
The former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration introduced city IDs for the first time in 2015. They were designed to assist migrants in gaining access to free healthcare and education, as well as open bank accounts.
All New Yorkers aged 10 or older are eligible to participate, regardless of their immigration status.
Nearly 1.7 million people possess the card. According to the city, 132,054 cards were distributed last year, compared with 127,859 the year before.
Some people do not think it’s a great idea to make the city ID process easier. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) told The Post that it is a terrible idea.
She told the newspaper that providing a valid government ID for individuals who are in the country illegally and then allowing them to access government services, buildings, etc., is another reason [to come to the United States]. The publication reported that “the most disturbing thing is the lack of vetting and no procedure to verify that documents used to prove your identity are genuine. And, on top of that, these documents could help in an investigation.”
A representative of the city said that they thoroughly check criminal records for all applicants.
Adams detailed his immigration accomplishments in an Op-Ed article published by Harlem World Magazine.
He said, “New York City was built by immigrants, and our strength is not only because we have diversity but we also are the best city in the world because of that.”
His administration took immediate action to address what was described as an unprecedented influx of asylum-seekers in the city beginning in 2022.
“Thanks for our efforts, more than 189.100 migrants, or 81 percent, who have requested services in the city over the past three years, are now on their way to self-sufficiency”, Adams stated. He added that thanks to his administration’s support of asylum seekers as they chase the American Dream, 84 percent of adults received or applied for work authorization.
Adams highlighted the fact that over 53,000 tickets were purchased by the city to assist those who are seeking asylum in reaching their “preferred destination,” thus reducing long-term expenses for the taxpayers.
Adams announced that Roosevelt Hotel, Manhattan’s migrant shelter, will close in the coming months.
Since May 2023, the hotel has been converted to a shelter for migrants with around 1,000 rooms. It has hosted over 173,000 migrants. The hotel was converted into a shelter for migrants in May 2023 in response to a wave of migrants who began arriving in the city looking for asylum in 2022.
A source has told The New York Post that the shelter at the Roosevelt Hotel, as well as the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center located there, will be shut down by the end of June.
Adams, in a recent statement, said: “Although we are not finished caring for the people who enter our care, today is another milestone that shows the enormous progress we have made in turning around an unprecedented humanitarian international effort.”
He continued his efforts to improve the city this week.
He noted that the New York City Department of Small Business Services provided hundreds of jobs to migrants. Other parts of his government continued to look for new ways to help newly arrived immigrants, from resource fairs and direct outreach to English-as-a-2nd Language classes at shelters.
Adams stated, “Our actions have demonstrated to an entire country what we can achieve when we are led with compassion and resourcefulness. We will be stronger after this crisis because of all the hard work that we’ve done. All New Yorkers are affected by the same things. I have confidence that our city will continue to be an oasis of hope and a place for people to build new lives from all over the globe.”
