NY Law to give Illegals Ability to Vote After Obtaining Drivers License

Published 32 mins ago
Illegal immigrants to be able to get driver’s licenses in NY after legal challenge fails
By Adam Shaw | Fox News

Illegal immigrants in New York will able to obtain driver’s licenses starting next week after a last-minute legal challenge was dismissed -- making it the 13th state to allow the practice, but one that critics say is unconstitutional.

The Green Light Law, signed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this year, allows anyone to apply for a driver’s license regardless of immigration status and does not require a Social Security number.

Illegal immigrants can use a combination of documents that include a valid passport from a foreign country and a valid foreign driver’s license, as long as it has been expired for less than two years.

“After waiting 18 years to have their right to drive restored, thanks to our legislature, New York can now officially join 12 other states in making driver’s licenses legally available to all residents,” New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Steve Choi said in a statement this week, arguing that it will make roads safer and the economy stronger.

"This is a major step forward for all New Yorkers as we keep building New York to live up to its full potential of equity, opportunity and justice," said State Sen. Luis Sepúlveda (D-Bronx). "We also look forward to the significant economic and safety benefits the law will bring to communities across our state."

The controversial measure faced multiple lawsuits. Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns, whose lawsuit was dismissed last month, argued that the measure violated federal law and would make New Yorkers less safe.

"My concern is that, after 9/11, New York state put a prohibition on illegals having driving licenses and now with REAL ID in 2005 after we were attacked there will be a gap from today to Oct. 1 that anyone who is here illegally can get into a federal buiulding and can fly on our airplanes and cross our border," he said Saturday on "Fox & Friends."

According to the Wall Street Journal, the latest challenge by Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola was dismissed Friday after a judge ruled that he had not demonstrated a “cognizable injury” and therefore lacked the standing to sue. The judge warned, however, that the ruling shouldn’t be read as an affirmation that the law is “legal.”

“To the dissatisfaction of the parties and public-at-large, courts are at times unable to pass upon the merits of a case for one reason or another,” the judge wrote.

The Associated Press cited an estimate by the Fiscal Policy Institute that approximately 265,000 illegal immigrants in New York will get driver's licenses in the next three years, with more than half from New York City.

The Department of Motor Vehicles has been providing training and devices that can authenticate documents, although some clerks have warned that they are still not prepared for what may happen when the law goes into effect. Kearns said they have received only an hour-long webinar.

"I am now going to have to accept a report card from a foreign country and ... a foreign passport as authenticated documents. I myself as the clerk am going to have to do that," Kearns said. "We used to have to rely on a third party, the fed government, to do that so they have diminished a New York driver's license, and we are very concerned for our safety and security because western New York is a border to Canada."

The Cuomo administration has made it clear clerks cannot choose to disregard the law.

“Local officials, including the county clerks who run DMV offices, cannot choose which laws they like and which they will disregard,” Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Lisa Koumjian said in a statement. “If a clerk is unwilling to follow state law, he or she should resign their office.”

Kearns, who has put up a sign in his office that features an anonymous Immigration and Customs Enforcement tipline, has promised to personally evaluate every illegal immigrant application. He believes the law is part of a broader power play by Albany that will ultimately lead to voter fraud.

"This is all a power grab for the ballot box in New York, trying to give illegals the right to vote," he said.

New York has motor voter..............

and libs claim there is no vote fraud

Trump administration takes aim at laws allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses
The acting Homeland Security secretary requested a department-wide study on how the laws affect its enforcement efforts.
Dec. 31, 2019, 2:48 PM MST, By Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The acting secretary of Homeland Security is taking aim at new laws in New York and New Jersey that allow immigrants to get driver's licenses without proof they are in the U.S. legally, and restrict data sharing with federal authorities.

Chad Wolf sent a memo Tuesday to all the components of Homeland Security, which include U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration, requesting a department-wide study on how the laws affect its enforcement efforts.

New York's law went into effect earlier this month and migrants lined up to get documents. It is the 13th state to authorize licenses for drivers without legal immigration status. New Jersey lawmakers passed a similar bill in December.

New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City's Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio are frequent thorns in the side of the Trump administration's efforts to restrict immigration. New York City is home to an estimated 500,000 immigrants in the country illegally.

The laws prohibit state Department of Motor Vehicles officials from providing data to agencies that enforce immigration law unless a judge orders it. New York cut off database access to at least three federal agencies last week when the law went into effect.

Wolf said in his memo, obtained by The Associated Press, that the department must be “prepared to deal with and counter these impacts as we protect the homeland.”

An estimated 265,000 immigrants without legal documents were expected to get driver’s licenses within three years, more than half of them in New York City, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.

Applicants must still get a permit and pass a road test to qualify for a “standard driver’s license,” which cannot be used for federal purposes like an enhanced driver’s license or Real ID.

Wolf's directive asks that each agency survey what DMV information is already available, how it is used in day-to-day operations, and what are the security consequences without the data.

“The Trump administration takes the mission of protecting the Homeland very seriously,” said DHS spokeswoman Heather Swift. She said the laws were short-sighted and unsafe and skirt immigration laws on the books for decades. “These types of laws make it easier for terrorists and criminals to obtain fraudulent documents," she said.

New York authorities and other state officials say the laws are meant to lower the number of uninsured people, improve traffic safety and allow for better opportunity for work.

As if we didn't know that was the plan from the get-go ...Maybe they'll at least stop the incessant lying about it now

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/06/19/new-york-law-gives-illegals-ability-to-vote-after-obtaining-drivers-license/?fbclid=IwAR2rpXEsc9h3jL3-9w3AYBapcE7XGNy8Lu7RsXG4JX_F7ZU_BjDjGDbeP-M

Grackle wrote:

As if we didn't know that was the plan from the get-go ...Maybe they'll at least stop the incessant lying about it now

BWAA! they sure in hell won't vote for trump..
so- I'm ok with it..
but- I doubt they'll be voting one way or another.

Grackle wrote:

You see nothing wrong with inviting foreigners into the country to bulk up the votes for democrats in the elections .. I give nadda fuck about your opinion on the issue[/b]

It has Not happened..
You're in panic mode over
something that has not happened..

Temple wrote:

Grackle wrote:

You see nothing wrong with inviting foreigners into the country to bulk up the votes for democrats in the elections .. I give nadda fuck about your opinion on the issue[/b]

It has Not happened..
You're in panic mode over
something that has not happened..

The Law:

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section611&num=0&edition=prelim

The House:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/sep/26/san-francisco-cities-allow-illegal-immigrants-vote/

The House voted Wednesday to go on record admonishing communities such as San Francisco that now allow illegal immigrants to cast ballots in local elections, calling it another way some localities are undermining federal immigration policies.

The 279-72 vote saw 49 Democrats join with nearly every Republican to protest the growing movement to expand the vote. Sixty-nine Democrats declined to take a stand, voting “present.”

The non-binding resolution does not force any changes, but did put lawmakers on record.

Yet a year later:

https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/frankvernuccio/2019/09/11/shocker-only-six-house-democrats-voted-against-illegal-immigrants-voting-n2552932