San Francisco Values: Municipal ID Cards

And with broad support, Supervisor Tom Ammiano has proposed legislation for the City to issue its own ID cards. At a time where immigrants are denied driver’s licenses and other services, this would afford them the dignity of an identification so they can apply for jobs, report a crime, open a bank account, or check out a book at the library. Undocumented immigrants won’t be the only beneficiaries – transgenders and the homeless also struggle with having inadequate papers, and this law would go a long way towards helping them too.

“One of the tools of oppression,” said Ammiano, “is to not give someone ID – leaving people invisible as possible, living in a world of denial. In San Francisco, we want to address that; for these people who provide so much to our labor infrastructure.” At a rally yesterday on the steps of City Hall, a broad coalition of immigrant rights activists and their allies were there to tell horror stories about what it’s like not to have ID.

“Our members have been robbed and not called the police for fear of deportation,” said Lillian Castillo of Young Workers United. If police ask the victim for ID and they fail to produce one, they may be taken into custody and eventually deported. “Immigrants are targeted because people know that they do not have bank accounts.”

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