\u201cI want to commend Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Mark-Viverito, and Council Members Dromm and Menchaca for their efforts to establish a municipal identification program that will allow more than half a million people in New York City to access critical services that would otherwise have been unavailable to them. Currently, New York City residents who lack legal status are often unable to obtain services from government agencies \u2013 or even to enter government buildings such as City Hall \u2013 without identification. Every person in New York City should have the right to full participation in our civil society, and this program will allow for such participation. In this instance, as in many other instances, New York City had to act because Congress has failed to act. It is my hope that my colleagues in Congress will follow this example in their consideration of comprehensive immigration reform, to finally establish a policy that works for the eleven million people without legal status and for our nation as a whole.\u201d
\n###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI want to commend Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Mark-Viverito, and Council Members Dromm and Menchaca for their efforts to establish a municipal identification program that will allow more than half a million people in New York City to access critical services that would otherwise have been unavailable to them. Currently, New York City residents who lack legal status are often unable to obtain services from government agencies \u2013 or even to enter government buildings such as City Hall \u2013 without identification.<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n