ID card program OK'd, but launch is TBD
By: Joshua Sabatini
Examiner Staff Writer
October 15, 2008
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| Sorting out the details: Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the ID card program be put on hold in August. (Examiner file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Although a judge tossed out a lawsuit Tuesday against San Francisco’s plan to begin issuing identification cards to illegal immigrants, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office said it would not commit to a date to start the program.
In November, the Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to adopt a program to issue municipal ID cards to illegal immigrants and anyone else who has been residing in The City for at least 15 days.
Immigrant-rights advocates say The City will see a number of benefits by offering the cards, including an increase of crimes reported by illegal immigrants who currently are reluctant to do so for fear local police will punish them for not having a valid ID.
Newsom, who signed the legislation into law, initially instructed his staff to work quickly to implement the program.
In August, however, he ordered City Administrator Edwin Lee to put the program on hold until legal and other technical issues were sorted out.
Shortly thereafter, Supervisor Tom Ammiano publically accused Newsom of caving in to political pressure, and suggested the mayor was backing off the cards in light of his ambition to run for governor.
Newsom’s order to hold off on the cards came as a national controversy ignited when it was reported that The City’s immigrant “sanctuary” law resulted in juvenile offenders being shielded from deportation. Newsom has since ordered the practice stopped.
Although Ammiano said the city administrator had told him the program could be launched by January, Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said he could not commit to a specific date. Newsom has directed the city administrator to continue reviewing the program, he said.
“[The ID program] must be bulletproof. We need to make sure that there is no potential for fraud or abuse,” Ballard said. “How long will it be until the ID cards are given the green light? As long as it takes.” Ballard also said Newsom still supports issuing city ID cards.
On Tuesday, Ammiano kept up the political pressure on Newsom to implement the program.
“This is the law of San Francisco and it’s going to happen,” Ammiano said. “If they want to be sued for not implementing this, that’s up to them.”
San Francisco became the first city of its size to adopt an ID-card program, and followed in the footsteps of New Haven, Conn., which adopted a similar program in July 2007.
Program’s neutrality saves it in judge’s eyes
The City cleared a legal hurdle Tuesday to its plan to issue city identification cards to illegal immigrants after a judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the proposal.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s legal victory was celebrated by city officials supportive of implementing the municipal identification program, which would allow anyone living in San Francisco for more than 15 days to receive a city ID.
The lawsuit against The City was filed by the Immigration Reform Law Institute of Washington, D.C., on behalf of four San Francisco residents. The lawsuit argued that the ID cards would result in a sizeable increase in San Francisco’s illegal-immigrant population and therefore The City was required to have studied the impact, as required by state law. The lawsuit also argued that the ID-card program would violate federal law by aiding and abetting illegal immigrants.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter Busch ruled against the lawsuit, finding The City’s law was “entirely neutral in respect to immigration status.”
“The ordinance does not change anybody’s immigration status. It does not give anybody permission to be in the United States or to remain in the United States,” Busch said.
He also said he could not see a “reasonable possibility of a significant impact on the environment.”
Sharma Hammond, the institute’s Washington, D.C.-based attorney, said after the decision that an appeal is under consideration.
