Asylum seekers line up in front of the historic Roosevelt Hotel, converted into a city-run shelter for newly arrived migrant families in New York City. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The program is open to all New Yorkers who are 10 and older, no matter what their immigration status is.
To date, nearly 1.7 million people have acquired the ID card. Last year there were 132,054 IDs handed out, while the previous year there were 127,859, according to the city.
Not everyone thinks it is a good idea to ease the process for obtaining a city ID. In fact, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told The Post it was a "terrible idea."
"To provide a legitimate government ID to individuals in the country illegally then gives them access to government buildings and services is just another incentive [to come here]," she told the publication. "Most disturbing is that there is no vetting, no process to ensure documents provided to prove identity are not fake and, to boot, they destroy these documents that could be helpful in an investigation."
NEW YORK CITY ANNOUNCES CLOSING OF MIGRANT SHELTERS AS NUMBERS DROP
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference outside Gracie Mansion, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Adams also highlighted that the city purchased over 53,000 tickets to help those seeking asylum reach their "preferred destinations," reducing the long-term costs of keeping them in the city for taxpayers.
Adams announced last week that the Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter in Manhattan will be shutting down in the next few months.
The hotel, which was converted into a migrant shelter with about 1,000 rooms, has processed over 173,000 migrants since May 2023. It was set up as a migrant shelter in response to the wave of migrants that began coming to the city in 2022 in search of asylum.
The Roosevelt Hotel’s shelter, along with the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center located on the site, will now be closed by June, a source told the New York Post.
NYC SUES AFTER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CLAWS BACK $80 MILLION MIGRANT HOUSING GRANT
Hundreds of migrants are seen sleeping outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan early Monday, July 31, 2023. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
"While we’re not done caring for those who come into our care, today marks another milestone in demonstrating the immense progress we have achieved in turning the corner on an unprecedented international humanitarian effort," Adams said in a statement last week.
This week, he continued to address the city’s efforts.
The New York City Department of Small Business Services connected the migrant population to hundreds of job opportunities, he noted, and other parts of his administration continued to search for ways to assist new arrivals, providing things from direct outreach and resource fairs to onsite English as a Second Language courses at shelters.
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"Our actions have shown an entire nation what can be accomplished when we lead with compassion and resourcefulness," Adams said. "Because of the work we have done, we will emerge from this crisis stronger than ever before. We are all New Yorkers together: anything that affects one of us, affects us all. I have faith in our great city to continue to be a beacon of hope, and a place where people from every corner of the world can build a new life."
Fox News’ Mike Lee contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nyc-gives-migrants-more-ways-obtain-city-id-making-easier-them-get-benefits-housing-report