A.G. Schneiderman Files Brief to Protect Immigrants’ Records
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By Josh Nathan-Kazis December 21, 2016
New York State’s Attorney General is taking one more swipe at Donald Trump.
Eric Schneiderman, who emerged early in the presidential campaign as one of the most strident voices opposing Trump, filed a brief in an ongoing lawsuit yesterday meant to deny Trump access to the identities of undocumented immigrants, Politico reported.
“Publicly releasing the private information of nearly 900,000 New Yorkers would place them at risk for identity theft and hate crimes — and it’s particularly troubling when we’re talking about marginalized and vulnerable New Yorkers who were promised their information would remain private when they applied,” said Amy Spitalnick, press secretary for the Attorney General.
The lawsuit comes after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged never to give to the federal government records associated with the NYCID program, which made identification cards available to New Yorkers without valid citizenship status.
“Anyone who does not yet have an IDNYC, it’s time to sign up for one,” de Blasio said in late November. “And we will never turn over the paper work to the federal government.”
In response to de Blasio’s promise, two Republican members of the New York State Assembly sued the city to keep it from destroying records associated with the IDNYC cards.
In the amicus brief filed Tuesday, Schneiderman’s office argued that information contained in the IDNYC records should not be made available for public disclosure under open records laws.
“Its disclosure would invade these individuals’ personal privacy and endanger their safety, in addition to violating a pledge of confidentiality essential to the success of a major public program,” Schneiderman wrote.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or follow him on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
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