The Board of Supervisors adopted, and Mayor Newsom signed, an ordinance in November 2007 establishing the ID card program. The Washington D.C.-based Immigration Reform Law Institute contends in legal filings that San Francisco is violating federal immigration law and unlawfully spending taxpayer money to implement its plan. "Since San Francisco is knowingly violating the Immigration Reform and Control Act with this ordinance, this classifies as an illegal expenditure of taxpayer funds," declared attorney Sharma Hammond.

Yeh Ling-Ling, an immigrant born in Vietnam, supports the legal action to overturn the ID card program. "All those who care about San Francisco should call Mayor Newsom," she suggested. "Ask him to wake up, the United States is no longer what it used to be."

However, San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano calls the complaint a nuisance, and is confident it will be dismissed. "We are a sanctuary city, not just on paper or just lip service, we recently announced a program to publicize the services that that population can take advantage of," he said of the support for immigrants.

The complaint also alleges officials failed to analyze environmental impacts of large numbers of immigrants who may move to San Francisco to take advantage of the favorable laws.

KCBS' George Harris reports