Migrants signing up for NYC ID cards in record numbers with more than 112K awarded in 2023
NY Post
A record number of migrants are taking their first step to becoming residents of New York City by signing up for IDNYC cards, The Post has learned.
The municipal card — part of the largest such program in the US and launched in 2015 by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio — can be used as personal identification and verification to obtain local services ranging from health care and school enrollment for kids to use of the public library and for employment and some financial transactions.
The number of new IDNYC cards issued soared nearly 50% from last year to 2023: with 82,085 given out between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15, 2022, and 112,238 in the same period this year — coinciding with the wave of asylum-seekers entering the city, according to data obtained by The Post.
People can obtain the card regardless of immigration status — so that includes asylum-seekers and others who came here illegally and lack documentation.
The main Queens Public Library in Jamaica — used as one of the main processing centers for IDNYC applications by the city’s Human Resources Administration — has seen lines of migrants snake around the block in the morning waiting for its doors to open.
“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.
