Menchaca spearheaded drive for municipal ID cards
Council vote clears the way for immigrant access to city services
Councilman Carlos Menchaca, a driving force behind the City Council’s historic June 26 vote to establish a municipal identification card program to help undocumented immigrants obtain city services, predicted that the program would become the most successful of its kind in the nation.
“This will be the largest and most successful program of its kind, benefitting all New Yorkers as they access programs, services and cultural institutions. As a result of this bill, identification will no longer be a privilege for New Yorkers,” Menchaca said, calling the vote, “a momentous step for the many communities that have historically felt disconnected from the city they call home.”
On Thursday, the council voted said 43-3 to set up the ambitious new program.