LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is pushing a plan to create an official city photo identification card that could double as a pre-paid ATM card and help immigrants get access to banking services.

The initiative could reduce crime because fewer people would have to carry cash, but critics say it’s another ill-advised City Hall effort to accommodate undocumented immigrants.

The idea for the city ID card originated in his office, the mayor said, as part of previous efforts to help immigrants open bank accounts so they wouldn’t become targets of crime.

A handful of cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, issue ID cards to anyone who can prove residency, regardless of immigration status. Villaraigosa said it’s time that Los Angeles — home to an estimated 4.3 million immigrants — joined them.

“It will be an official ID,” Villaraigosa said. “It will be as strong an effort as San Francisco’s.”

Critics said Villaraigosa’s proposal is the latest sign that the nation’s second-largest city is taking an increasingly supportive view of undocumented immigrants as it encourages them to join in the city’s civic life.

“Los Angeles is making it easier for people who have violated federal immigration laws to live in the city,” said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group critical of illegal immigration.

Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck announced that hundreds of undocumented immigrants arrested by his officers each year in low-level crimes would no longer be turned over to federal authorities for deportation.