To: Nicole Malliotakis, Assemblywoman and Rob Castorina, Assemblyman

Malliotakis and Castorina - DROP THE LAWSUIT AGAINST IDNYC!

Assemblymembers Malliotakis and Castorina have filed a lawsuit to expose the personal data of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers - including many undocumented residents, to the Trump administration. Tell them to drop the lawsuit NOW.

Why is this important?

Republican Assemblymembers Nicole Malliotakis (District 64, Staten Island and Brooklyn) and Rob Castorina (District 62, Staten Island) recently filed a lawsuit against the City of New York to prevent them from protecting information collected by the city as part of its municipal ID program IDNYC.

The new IDs, which nearly 1 million New Yorkers have applied for, is particularly important to undocumented immigrants, seniors, the formerly incarcerated, members of the LGBTQ community, and others who lack the benefits provided by conventional identification cards including opening bank accounts, using libraries, and picking up their children from school.

IDNYC had built into it a provision that the data gathered as part of the application process would be destroyed after a period in order to protect undocumented cardholders from deportation. The lawsuit brought by Malliotakis and Castorina is currently risking the exposure of nearly a million people to this anti-immigration administration by preventing the destruction of this data.

The IDNYC program was designed to provide vulnerable New Yorkers with the same opportunities as all New Yorkers. It must not be used as a weapon against them. Malliotakis and Castorina were elected to serve their constituents, not the draconian policies of the Trump administration.

We, the undersigned, call on Malliotakis and Castorina to immediately drop the lawsuit. Protect immigrant rights. Protect New Yorkers. Protect our neighbors.