New York City will stop retaining the personal information of New Yorkers who apply for the Municipal ID program open to undocumented immigrants, part of an effort to protect people in danger of deportation in the upcoming Trump Administration.

Mayor de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito announced on Wednesday that the City is “transitioning to a policy that does not involve the retention of cardholders' personal background documents.” “We expect to begin processing complete applications under the new policy in January,” the said in a joint statement.

Applicants will still be required to bring back up documents to prove their identity to get a card, which can be used as a legal form of identification in many instances in New York, but the City won’t hold onto it as it had in the past.

For now, the personal documents from hundreds of thousands of card holders, including undocumented immigrants, who already are part of the program are still on file.

The City has until the end of the year to decide what to do with that info, which can be destroyed up until Dec. 31 under a Provision of the law instituting the program.

De Blasio has said the City would protect cardholders rights, and that officials are assessing what to do with the records.

Meanwhile, a Brooklyn Judge Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the City from destroying any ID data as part of a lawsuit filed by several Republican pols.

Assemblyman Ron Castorina and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, both of Staten Island, are suing to keep the records intact.

A Rep for the Mayor said that he is “confident” the data can remain private.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker