When New York City launched the nation’s biggest municipal ID card program last year, advocates said it would help people living in the U.S. illegally to come out of the shadows.
But since Donald Trump was elected president, city officials are instead fielding questions about whether the cards could put those same people at greater risk of being deported.
The city has vowed to protect cardholders’ personal records and might even delete them. The program has a kind of self-destruct provision that allows for the information to be destroyed at the end of the year.
At least one state lawmaker has criticized that idea, saying it could make it impossible to trace people if any have gotten cards fraudulently.
Some immigrants are taking comfort in the city’s stance.
(AP)
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5 Responses
I believe that the technicality of the law allows for this. But that jeopardizes NYC is a big way. The Trump administration will need to use the only muscle it has to get cooperation from the city government. There are always federal grants to cities that assist in funding various projects. These will predictably dry up.
Now, if DeBlasio prevents the federal government from taking action on specific individuals, that will become a bigger problem, as that is interfering with the superiority of the feds. This opens up a real can of worms. It would cost DeBlasio his career, and shake up local politics. But he gives all the indication that he wants to be stubborn about it.
Would this not be illegal to destroy evidence that is necessary for law enforcement agencies? These people would surely end up in jail… seems like the liberal, sandlewearing wearing lefties are a law unto themselves. When will they get it that they are the minority opinion in this respect?!!!
What chutzpah!
Little I know the law was written so that if a republican came to office they could erase all records
Yes that’s against the law because you are doing it for that reason to obstruct justice
To #4
You are correct. The separation of powers between the federal and locales is an issue here. I agree with you about the immorality of destroying the data or withholding it. I was referring to the technicality of the law. I actually heard a statement about this from Judge Napolitano, who is quite conservative, and holds views that I share, probably you, too. He does not favor this “privilege” either, but stated that this was the law. If there a specific request by the feds for an individual who was wanted, this would be a criminal investigation, and such information could not be withheld. But a database is allowed to be private to the city or state.