De Blasio Launches IDNYC: ‘You Can’t Afford Not to Have’ It

Quoting lines from Field of Dreams, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday launched the city’s “IDNYC” municipal identification card program, which will be available to all New York residents–including illegal immigrants.

De Blasio said New York residents were “lining up enthusiastically” at 17 locations on Monday to get the identification card, which provides prescription drug discounts and other benefits like memberships to various cultural institutions in the city. Applications are available in 25 different languages.

“You’ll remember the highly-regarded american film Field of Dreams–‘if you build it, they will come,'” de Blasio said. “You can’t afford not to have an IDNYC card.”

He said the cards will “uplift so many New Yorkers who needed to be recognized and respected” and will “give people much greater access to the basic services that are necessary.”

De Blasio said there was “huge demand” and interest for the cards. He mentioned that people were “flocking to libraries to get their cards.” He said the cards “will open so many doors” and provide “full participation and opportunity” for those who receive them.

According to the New York Times, the card will also “be accepted as a library card across the city’s three public library systems and recognized as identification to open an account at several banks and credit unions.”

In December, Breitbart News noted that the “IDNYC” cards will be available free of charge in 2015 to anyone 14 years of age and older and “over 40 categories of documents that may be used to establish identity, including foreign passports and consular identification cards, foreign birth certificates, military identification, U.S. high school diplomas, and U.S. voter registration cards.” In addition, “applicants will be able to demonstrate residency in New York City with cable, phone or utility bills, bank statements, and residential leases, among other documents.”

NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Nisha Agarwal said then that the de Blasio administration will continue to work with “businesses and our community partners to make new benefits available to cardholders as the program grows.”