June 17, 2016

Chicago City Council

121 N LaSalle St. #107A
Chicago, IL 60602
Dear Members of the Chicago City Council:
We, the undersigned 40 civil rights, labor rights, faith-based, immigrant, and human rights
organizations, strongly oppose submitting the question of whether the City of Chicago should
implement municipal identification cards to public referendum during the November elections.
Not only would a public referendum vote exclude undocumented Chicagoansa group the
proposal intends to protectfrom the decision-making process, it is simply unconscionable to
condition the basic civil rights of our most vulnerable community members to a popular vote.
Municipal ID cards do not grant anyone new benefits or services; they simply make it possible
for the citys most vulnerable residents to access benefits and services to which they are already
legally entitled. Specifically, municipal IDs would provide access to identity documents for
Chicagoans who are homeless, transgender, or undocumented. Municipal ID cards ensure that
our most vulnerable community members are able to access basic services, such as: open bank
accounts, frequent libraries, provide personal information to hospitals, and ensure people are able
to enter schools and other government buildings. These capabilities are fundamental to basic
functioning and survival in any city and they should not be submitted to public referendum.
Civil rights and access to basic services should never be subject to the will of the majority.
Undocumented people, some of the beneficiaries of this ID program, would not even be able to
participate in the process as they are unable to vote. By including the question of a Municipal ID
program as part of a referendum, the City of Chicago sends a message to marginalized
community members that their rights are negotiable and makes a mockery of the citys stated
goal to be the most immigrant-friendly city in the country.
Beginning in the summer of 2015, the Chicago Office of New Americans convened a Municipal
ID Working Group comprised of a diverse array of community organizations to guide the citys
efforts to implement the program. This process is in line with more than a dozen localities that
have implemented municipal IDs. Other localities did this successfully without putting the issue
to a public vote.1 Chicagos proposed referendum sets a dangerous national precedent for
localities across the country who may implement municipal IDs. Historically, even in very

See The Editorial Board, New Yorks ID Card Deserves Respect, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 29, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/opinion/new-yorks-id-card-deserves-respect.html.

progressive political climates, civil rights questions have not succeeded when submitted to
referendum.2
We strongly urge the Chicago City Council to rescind its misguided proposal to subject
municipal IDs to public referendum. Rather than subjecting the civil rights of some of our most
vulnerable community members to popular opinion, the city should move forward with the
processes already in place to implement a Municipal ID program.
If you have questions related to this request, please contact Tania Unzueta, on behalf of the
Chicago Municipal Immigration Policy Working Group, at tania@mijente.net or 773-387-3186.
Sincerely,
Chicago-Based Co-Signers
1. Central Spanish Baptist Church
45th Ward
2. Centro de Trabajadores Unidos
10th Ward
3. Chicago Community and Workers' Rights
25th Ward
4. Enlace Chicago
22nd Ward
5. Korean American Resource and Cultural Center 50th Ward
6. Latino Union of Chicago
39th Ward
7. Mujeres Latinas en Accin
25th Ward
8. Organized Communities Against Deportations 25th Ward
9. University Church
5th Ward
10. Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ
44th Ward
11. Chicago Religious Leadership Network
45th Ward
12. Southwest Organizing Project
Wards 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23
13. The Next Movement
21st Ward

National Co-Signers
14. National Immigrant Justice Center (National)
15. Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (State-wide)
16. South Asian American Policy & Research Institute (SAAPRI) (State-wide)
17. Center for New Community (National)
18. Immigrant Defense Project (National)
2

See William Yeoman, Referendums Not an Avenue to Equality, POLITICO, Feb. 6, 2012,
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/02/referendums-are-not-the-avenue-to-equality-072504; Manny Fernandez & Mitch Smith,
Houston Voters Reject Broad Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, N.Y. TIMES, Nov. 3, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/us/houston-voters-repeal-anti-bias-measure.html?_r=0.

19. National Center for Transgender Equality (National)

20. National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund (National)
21. Mijente (National)
Co-Signers from Around the U.S.
22. Asian Law Alliance (California)
23. Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) (California)
24. Coloradans For Immigrant Rights, of American Friends Service Committee (Colorado)
25. Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (Colorado)
26. Comite de Derechos Humanos de Forks (Washington)
27. Community to Community (Washington)
28. Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (Georgia)
29. Latino Advocacy (Washington)
30. Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante (Vermont)
31. New Orleans Congress of Day Laborers (Louisiana)
32. New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice (Louisiana)
33. Northminster Presbyterian Church, Mission and Social Justice Committee (Illinois)
34. Northwest Resistance (Washington)
35. Orange County Immigrant Youth United (California)
36. Project IRENE (Illinois)
37. Reformed Church of Highland Park (New Jersey)
38. Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (California)
39. Voces de la Frontera (Wisconsin)
40. Provintial Council of Clerics (Illinois)