New York City plans to destroy personal documents submitted by hundreds of thousands of applicants for municipal ID cards if allowed to do so by a judge, but will hold onto some identifying information, the New York Daily News reports. Applications for the cards containing information including names, addresses and dates of birth as well as copies of the photo ID cards themselves will be kept on file, officials in the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Two Republican legislators from Staten Island sued after de Blasio said he might have information collected under the municipal ID program destroyed to make sure it couldn’t be used by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump to go after card holders. The cards are available to all New York City residents, including immigrants in the country illegally.
At the hearing yesterday, de Blasio’s immigration commissioner Nisha Agarwal said the city had decided to destroy documents submitted to prove applicants’ identity and address — like birth certificates, passports, leases, utility bills, public benefit cards, bank statements, and tax returns. Going forward, the city has opted not to keep copies of those records at all. A significant trove of information including card holders’ names, addresses, and photographs will remain on file. Trump has not said whether he intends to go after the information, but the city has said it would attempt to keep it confidential. Justice Philip Minardo ordered the identity documents to be preserved while the case plays out.