September 11, 2007

**[San Francisco Starts ID Program for Illegal Immigrants]{.underline}**

*Support the Photo Identification Security Act, Help Shut this Practice
Down*

Dear Colleague:

I recently brought to your attention an article detailing New Haven,
Connecticut\'s effort to issue local identification cards to **[illegal
immigrants,]{.underline}** which could be used for city services such as
opening bank accounts and library cards.  Now, San Francisco is
following New Haven\'s example.

Attached for your consideration is an article from the [San Francisco
Chronicle]{.underline} revealing that San Francisco Supervisor Tom
Ammiano is drafting legislation to create a city identification card,
which would be available to all people living in San Francisco,
including illegal immigrants.  The cards would be accepted by all city
agencies and organizations that receive city funding.  Supervisor
Ammiano is also persuading financial institutions to accept these
identification cards to open bank accounts.

San Francisco and New Haven\'s actions pose a threat to national
security and must be stopped immediately.  We cannot allow cities,
especially sanctuary cities such as San Francisco, to allow illegal
immigrants access to non-secure documents that could easily be used to
access financial services that should be reserved only for American
citizens and legal residents.

If you share my outrage after reading this article, I urge you to help
shut down this practice by cosponsoring the Photo Identification
Security Act (H.R.1314).  This piece of legislation will require the
Federal Government and financial institutions to accept
**[only]{.underline}** secure forms of identification when conducting
official business.  Please contact me or have your staff contact Rodney
Bacigalupo at <rodney.bacigalupo@mail.house.gov> or at (5-2811) to add
your name as a cosponsor or to request further information on this
issue.

Sincerely,

![](media/image1.png){width="4.025in" height="0.8in"}

Marsha Blackburn

Member of Congress

MB:rb

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/07/BAUAS0O6Q.DTL&type=printable>

Supervisor Ammiano drafting legislation for ID card for illegals

Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, September 7, 2007

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano is drafting legislation to create a
city identification card for immigrants unable to get traditional ID
cards, a move likely to anger advocates of tougher immigration
enforcement.

The cards would be accepted by all city agencies and organizations that
receive city funding. Ammiano plans to introduce the legislation within
a couple of weeks. He also is trying to persuade financial institutions
to allow residents to use the cards to open accounts.

\"There is a large community who contribute, and there are not a lot of
safeguards around their (immigration) status, their piece of mind and
their ability to participate,\" Ammiano said, adding that the card would
be available to all people living in San Francisco regardless of their
immigration status.

San Francisco could be the first large American city to have such a
card. New Haven, Conn., has such a program, and New York City is
considering one.

Ammiano said the impetus for the city cards came from the immigrant
community, which asked for his help. Illegal immigrants who are victims
or witnesses of crime often do not report the incident because they have
no identification and fear deportation. Identification also is needed
for many services, such as city health care.

San Francisco already has a sanctuary policy for immigrants, which means
no city agency, including the police, will assist the federal government
to deport people. So-called sanctuary cities have become a major issue
among Republican presidential candidates.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has been attacking
former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani - including during a debate
Wednesday night - over his city\'s sanctuary status. Romney broadcast a
radio advertisement in Iowa and New Hampshire, where a voice-over
states, \"Immigration laws don\'t work if they\'re not enforced. That\'s
the problem with cities like Newark, San Francisco and New York.\"

Later in the ad, Romney himself says that as president he would \"cut
back federal funds to cities that provide sanctuary to illegal
immigrants,\" a pledge he repeated at the debate.

Mayor Gavin Newsom has been resolute in defending San Francisco\'s
sanctuary status, and on Thursday his spokesman said Newsom supports
Ammiano\'s idea for a card, which could be used for libraries, golf
courses, public transportation and other services.

\"The mayor strongly believes that this identification card should be
extended to all San Franciscans, regardless of their immigration
status,\" said Nathan Ballard, the mayor\'s spokesman.

The card also would be available to homeless people who prove they live
in the city through a letter from a social service agency, Ammiano said.
Currently, single-room-occupancy hotels require guests to leave an
identification card at the front desk to enter the premises, which has
been a burden on homeless visitors, Ammiano said.

Elderly people, youth and transgender people who face barriers to
getting identification also would benefit from the card, he said.

New Haven began issuing the cards this summer. The application for the
card is a simple form on which people can request that the information
remain confidential. The card allows users access to the library and
other public facilities and to put up to \$150 on the card to pay for
parking meters and for purchases at 50 stores in the city.

One immigrant-rights advocate said she had a \"good feeling\" about the
cards becoming a reality in San Francisco.

\"While they would not provide people permission to drive, and people
aren\'t able to use them outside of San Francisco, they will really help
undocumented immigrants \... with day-to-day functions,\" said Renee
Saucedo, co-director of the San Francisco Day Labor Program, a project
of La Raza Centra Legal.