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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: (NY) Spitzer to let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses New Yorkers will soon be able to get driver's licenses regardless of their immigration status, Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday in a follow-up to a campaign pledge. Immigrants will be able to show foreign passports and other identification documents to qualify for licenses - and no longer be denied for lack of Social Security numbers. The policy will start phasing in by year's end. The decision is a big turnaround at the Department of Motor Vehicles, which under Gov. George Pataki tightened the rules for foreign-born applicants. The DMV barred people from renewing their licenses without valid Social Security numbers, something illegal immigrants would not be able to present. For at least six years, activists have debated whether to offer licenses to illegal immigrants, as eight states currently allow. Yesterday, both sides framed the argument as a matter of security. "I think that people should really think about the dangers of having uninsured and unlicensed drivers on the road," said Graciela Heymann, an advocate for the new policy and executive director of the Westchester Hispanic Coalition. State officials said the new policy would reduce the risk posed by drivers who have no insurance and never passed a road test. But the opponents - who raise the prospect of giving a driver's license to a potential foreign terrorist - said the matter is far from settled. "I'm going to fight this tooth and nail," Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Carmel, said. "I think it's unconscionable that the governor of the state of New York would allow for the liberalization of driver's license requirements in the very same state that was devastated on 9/11. This is a matter of national security, homeland security, for New York. ... "We're just making it easier for those who would wish to harm us to game our system." State officials said the wider eligibility rules would be accompanied by stronger anti-fraud measures. New document scanners will check the validity of foreign passports and compare an applicant's photo with the ones already in the system. To ensure that illegal immigrants don't flood into New York for licenses, the governor would seek state legislation to make applicants prove that they live within the state. Most changes would be made administratively. "This proposal is actually going to increase the security of the driver's license that is going to be issued in New York state," said Michael Balboni, the deputy secretary for public safety. Under the plan, about 152,000 New Yorkers who haven't been able to renew their licenses under the Pataki-era rules would be allowed to do so in December. Then, in April, the new eligibility requirements would apply to all New Yorkers seeking driver's licenses. More than 300,000 people are expected to apply. State officials did not specify the 14 additional types of documents that would be accepted toward the "six points of ID" application requirement. Spitzer rejected criticism from those he said "want to live in a world of make-believe" and ignore the presence of an estimated 500,000 undocumented immigrants in New York. He said current policies only encourage people to get false documents. "We want to live in the world of real, not in the world of rhetoric," he said. "We want to make the state a safer place to live in." Peter Gadiel, president of 9/11 Families for a Secure America, issued a statement saying, "Terrorists here illegally used licenses to kill my son and thousands of others in the World Trade Center; if they do it again using New York licenses issued by this governor, the blood of the victims will be on Mr. Spitzer's hands." The 9/11 Commission called for ensuring the reliability of government-issued documents, but stopped short of saying they should be withheld based on immigration status. Margaret Stock, an associate professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, said there's an advantage to getting more immigrants into the license system, along with their photos and addresses. "This is actually a really useful law enforcement database," she said. License records were used to investigate the Sept. 11 hijackers "to figure out where the terrorists had been, to arrest friends of theirs, to figure out what apartments they'd lived in," she said. "People seem to think that not having a driver's license stops you from getting on an airplane, but today you can use a passport to get on an airplane," she said. "And anybody who's a foreigner can get a passport." One complication in the governor's plans could be the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, which will require states to verify immigration status if driver's licenses are to be used for federal purposes. Asked about that prospect yesterday, the governor said, "We will wait and see what REAL ID requires of us ... and at some point we will get an answer to that." Reach Leah Rae at 914-694-3526 or lrae@lohud.com.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.
#5. To: robin (#0)
It's been a looooong looooooong time since 9/11 happened. Sympathy for Americans and in particular for New Yorkers is at an all time low on the world's stage. Therefore, tempting fate maybe in order...if you catch my drift....
#6. To: scrapper2 (#5)
Trapped by their own poor lies. But they worked long enough.
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