Record number of migrants are applying for New York City ID cards, over 112,000 approvals in 2023

A historic amount of migrants are applying for ID cards in New York City which is the first step to becoming official residents.

People can get access to IDNYC cards regardless of immigration status, whether that be entering the United States legally or illegally. The municipal cards are used for personal identification and grant migrants access to healthcare, schools, and other basic necessities.

The New York Post obtained data that shows the amount of cards that have been issued increased by nearly 50 percent this past year. Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15, 2022, there were 82,085 cards issued. In that same time period for this year, there were 112,238 cards issued.

Queens Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott told the outlet that applicants originate from a wide variety of global regions, including Africa, in addition to Latin America. The library is used as a hub to disperse the cards which began in 2015 after former Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio created the program.

"There've been lines wrapped around the building — I've seen people starting getting here at 3 a.m," he said. "It's an important step in life — having an ID card. We want people to get access to various services."

Queens Library spokeswoman Elizabeth de Bourbon told The Post, "We know from what we have observed that the number of applicants that are seeking IDNYC cards has risen sharply between this year and last year."

City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said one of the priorities of Mayor Adams's administration is to ensure that illegal immigrants gain access to IDNYC cards, according to the outlet.

"As a result of our efforts to strengthen and expand accessibility to IDNYC for all New Yorkers, we saw a nearly 50 percent increase in new IDNYC enrollments in 2023, when compared with 2022. This comes on the heels of the city expanding the list of eligible documentation for IDNYC to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, including asylum seekers," said Mamelak.

She explained that elected officials, community-based organizations, and other city agencies collaborated on the strategic plan to issue identification cards to migrants. In addition, the IDNYC Mobile Command Center was deployed and the number of informational events has been increased.

Asylum-seekers receive assistance from the bilingual staff of the Queens Library not only with their IDNYC applications but also with housing inquiries, clothing procurement, school support, food pantries, and employment assistance, which includes resume support.

Elizabeth de Bourbon said that there had been a 35 percent increase in enrollment for English as a Second Language at the library this past year, compared to the year prior.
 

"Through their interactions with the asylum seekers, our staff has found out that most of the people are from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Haiti," said de Bourbon. "They also are seeing people from Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Bangladesh, India and China. We also have encountered a handful of Russian speakers, potentially from Ukraine."

This comes after data released by Border Patrol last month revealed historic numbers of illegal crossings under the Biden administration at the hands of the president's open border policies. New York City has been significantly impacted due to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott transporting illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities via buses. Mayor Adams has declared a state of emergency and has requested for the city's sanctuary status to be revoked.

The US-Southern border has seen more than 2 million illegal crossings within the past year, with more than 6 million encounters since Joe Biden became president in 2021.

Apprehensions of people who are on the terrorist watch list are nearly double last year's record total. According to the CBP data, 172 non-citizens who were on the terrorist watchlist were apprehended at the border, which was an increase from 2022's record year of 98. Before 2021, the highest number was six in 2018, and it has skyrocketed since the Biden administration took over.

Total encounters for enforcement officials was 434,562 higher than in 2022 at a total of 3,201,144 for FY 2023. Since 2020, the total encounters has continued to increase, with 646,822 total encounters in 2020, 1,956,519 a year later, and 2,766,582 two years later.

Former President Donald Trump, who is the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner, recently warned about a massive caravan of illegal immigrants headed to the United States. He has vowed to make border security a top priority if he were to take back the White House in 2025.