IDNYC has reached a milestone, topping 1 million cards issued since its rollout in early 2015, the city announced Thursday.
There have been a total of 1,025,000 identity cards doled out, the city said. The IDs act as a valid form of identification for New Yorkers and serves as an entree to discounts and free memberships to museums and other cultural institutions.
In addition, over half a million cultural memberships have so far been redeemed through IDNYC, according to Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
In the face of ramped up deportation rhetoric from President Donald Trump’s administration, Mayor Bill de Blasio last year threatened to delete all IDNYC cardholder information.
The city is still waiting on a decision from a judge regarding the legality of its threat to destroy the two years worth of data, according to Boeglin.
In the meantime, she assured that the information will remain safe.
“The city holds confident that we will be able to protect all IDNYC cardholder information,” she said.
A survey released last year found that half of IDNYC card holders used it as a primary form of identification, a quarter of holders claimed it was their only form of U.S. photo identification and more than half of all users said they have used it to obtain free memberships to participating cultural institutions and to receive discounts at pharmacies and groceries.
People wishing to obtain an IDNYC card can find an online portal with instructions at nyc.gov. Enrollment will be free to anyone applying in 2017. Applicants must bring documents proving their identity and residence, but are never asked about their immigration status, according to a city spokeswoman.
