The city of Chicago just allowed illegal immigrants to obtain municipal identifications.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the city council voted 44 to 4 in favor of making such IDs available to the city’s populace, including illegal immigrants, at the urging of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who stated that the city council had “a moral obligation” to provide these IDs to bring people “out of the shadows.”
“We are a welcoming city,” Emanuel said. “Everybody in this chamber has, one time or another, talked about taking people out of the shadows into the daylight to help them.”
Emanuel also argued that it was necessary to help illegal immigrants feel protected, especially after a DREAMer was recently deported. He said that any information collected on illegal immigrants through the issuing of IDs will be expunged so the federal government won’t be able to obtain it:
To protect confidentiality, the city will ask for “minimal information” and will not ask applicants about their immigration status. Nor will the city retain copies of applicants’ personal information.
The name and date of birth will be the only information retained by the city. No home address will be required.
Applicants also will be able to self-designate their gender, a nod to the LGBTQ community.
The municipal ID will not be limited to undocumented individuals and will be available to people with disabilities; also, people who are homeless or are victims of domestic violence will be able to designate an alternative address.
Those with IDs will be eligible for various programs in the city. Hot Air‘s Jazz Shaw notes that local governments are the best suited to provide aid to those truly in need, but “the wheels come off the wagon as soon as you start including illegal aliens in the program since they aren’t supposed to be receiving any public services paid for by the taxpayers to begin with.”
One of the few aldermen who voted against the measure objected to the $3 million price tag, saying that this matter should be under the purview of the state and federal government.
Chicago is already one of the largest sanctuary cities in the country. Emanuel has stated his commitment to maintaining his city’s status as a sanctuary city; this move with municipal IDs is the latest example of him thumbing his nose at the federal government.
It’s worth noting that Chicago is experiencing a massive murder wave. With a clear link between illegal immigration and crime, the last thing the Windy City should be doing is providing another incentive for illegals to stay in the city.