El Paso council moves forward with city ID card program

El Pasoans hold up posters resembling a municipal identification card at the City Council meeting on April 25, 2023.
(KFOX14/CBS4)

KFOX14
by Diana Gomez | Lianna Golden
Tue, October 24th 2023, 10:29 AM GMT-7

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — The City of El Paso moved forward with implementing a municipal identification card program that will benefit those who cannot obtain a driver’s license or other state-issued IDs.

The city is calling them enhanced library cards. They can be used at local hospitals, within the police department, and in housing, among other city services.

The cards will not be valid for driving, traveling, voting, or buying alcohol.

A spokesperson for the city said during Tuesday's city council meeting how the program will be launched.

"In addition, we will have popup locations, which means we will partner with our county agencies and others, and we'll have that available throughout the community so people can apply for cards that way," said Dionne Mack, the Deputy City Manager for Quality of Life.

Mack said any organization can choose to accept this form of ID, and explains agencies such as the health department, the El Paso Police Department and the Park and Recreational Centers will accept it.

City IDs will help people who experience homelessness, formerly incarcerated, and undocumented migrants.

"It is not intended to be a replacement for state or federal ID. I see it in a lot of other municipalities. You'll see different companies coming on board and offering discounts as well as using it as an ID card, and so we're looking forward to adding some of those features in the future,” explained Mack.

Representative Alexandra Annello said the enhanced library cards are a form of ID for those who can't get a state ID.

"That’s why I think it’s really important everyone does get one. I think that once our community is safe and educated everybody in the city benefits from having people be able to access police resources, having people be able to access schools, libraries, healthcare," said Annello.

In order to qualify for the ID card city council members said there will be a point system.

Certain forms of ID like a driver's license or passport are worth more points.

Whereas something like a Sam's or Costco card could also work people will need to show one or two other forms of ID as well.

The program is set to launch next spring.

Mack said more information about the City ID cards will be available on the city's website where people will have access to the applications and locations.

The cards will be free for people who live in El Paso.

Mack said the program is being funded from the adopted budget for this fiscal year and the county.

"We're excited to have this process move forward. It has had a lot of community engagement, a lot of research and this is a way for us to really move forward in a way that I think would be acceptable to many people within a community and also have people have this form of ID, that's really important for them in terms of the things they're trying to get done their lives," said Mack.

Some citizens thought it was a good idea while others didn't.

"I think it puts the safety of our city in a compromising position just not being able to know if that person legally has a right to be here there are a lot of illegal immigrants that are here doing illegal things and not being held accountable for that," said a citizen.

"I just think the underserved community is going to be those that are in poverty level, migrants and things like that and anything that we can do to help them get services and things like that she’s going to benefit the community and also going to be helpful for the safety just that there’s going to be identification for people," said another citizen.

View City of El Paso Agenda here

View City of El Paso Council meeting here