Demand for City-issued Identification Cards in San Francisco

Why ID card will make the city safer and stronger
by Tom Ammiano
San Francisco Chronicle
September 30, 2007

As a sanctuary city, San Francisco has a responsibility to address the issues facing our community when federal legislators fail to do so. While grandstanding and speeches filled with fear and hate dominate congressional debate, here on the local level we have to address the fallout from continued inaction.

I introduced legislation Sept. 18 to create a municipal identification card for San Francisco residents, regardless of immigration status. This has created a local buzz and national controversy. The ID card is useful for many San Franciscans such as the homeless, the elderly, youths, transgender people and others who encounter barriers to accessing government-issued IDs. However, detractors have focused solely on immigrants as the recipients.

There are two reasons that it is important to all San Franciscans that we issue a municipal ID card, regardless of immigration status: safety in our community and strengthening our community.

When residents don't have government-issued IDs, it is a serious public safety issue because it reduces crime reporting and increases the number of vulnerable individuals. Without ID, people are afraid to report crimes, meaning that perpetrators are free to strike again. This is compounded when these same community members lack the ID needed to access bank accounts. By keeping cash on their person and in their homes, they are further targets of crime. I am working with the treasurer's office and look forward to collaborating with banks so that this card will be accepted to open bank accounts.

In San Francisco, we do not live in the bubble that many like to say we do; rather, we are an international city with residents from every corner of this Earth. According to the 2000 census, 38.6 percent of our residents are naturalized foreign born. We cannot escape the fact that immigrants are our neighbors, our friends, our partners and our co-workers. Without immigrants, this city's tourism industry, which our economy depends on, would collapse. And we as a city cannot reap the benefits of more than one-third of our city's residents and be at peace while we relegate them to permanent second-class citizen status.

This diversity makes this city what it is. It is what drives legislation like this. If any one of us is forced to live in the shadows, we are all affected. If my neighbors cannot feel safe to report a crime, that affects me.

If my neighbors are afraid to take their children to school, that affects me. And if our friends and our neighbors live in fear and are denied their civil liberties, that affects all of us.

And that is why San Francisco needs to issue a municipal ID card. In a time when "terrorist" is synonymous with "immigrant," San Francisco needs to be one of the first to say enough is enough.

Our city cannot just stand by while our federal government takes no action to address the safety needs of our community here at home. We are a city full of immigrants, and many were forced here out of necessity and hardship. As human beings, the least the city can do is to provide the dignity of an identity.

Tom Ammiano is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.