http://www.newsday.com/news/local/st...%2Cprint.story

By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer

May 10, 2005, 5:32 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A state judge on Tuesday ruled the state Department of Motor Vehicles can't revoke the driver's licenses of as many as 252,000 illegal immigrants because they haven't secured Social Security cards.

The DMV "may not use immigration status" to deny licenses, according to the decision by state Supreme Court Justice Karen Smith. "Plaintiffs have faced and will continue to face serious injuries if these practices continue."

The state will appeal, said DMV Commissioner Raymond Martinez.

The court said DMV lacks the authority to carry out the practice that could only be enacted by a legislature. The judge also rejected the state's "temporary visitor" program begun in 2003, which provided temporary licenses with expiration dates based on a person's immigration status. The driver's license would expire even if the immigrant was entitled to an automatic renewal of authorization to remain in the United States.

The practice requires proof of residency not required under law, the judge said. She argued it would be similar if DMV required a marriage license to prove identity, keeping unmarried people from obtaining driver's licenses.

"This rule is an unauthorized exercise of DMV's rule-making power and will, in all likelihood, be held invalid," the judge wrote.

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which won the case, said it will benefit immigrants and send a warning to states rewriting driver's license requirements as part of a federal homeland security measure.

"There are large numbers of people who have been working in this country for many years who need a driver's license to be able to work, to get to medical care, to drive their kids to school," said Cesar Perales, who is president of the fund. "All of this is imperiled by laws that say you will not be able to drive legally."

Martinez, the DMV commissioner, said the practice struck down Tuesday simply sought to make sure drivers "are who they say they are."

"New York state is fighting fraud and protecting New Yorkers from terrorism and other criminal acts," Martinez said. "Verifying a person's Social Security number is a common-sense and proven way to fulfill that important responsibility."

Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr., a Bronx Democrat, said the state should abandon the practice for the good of working families.

At issue is a change in DMV policy in 2002 as a homeland security measure that could keep driver's licenses _ widely used by police for valid identification _ from terrorists. The practice also discontinued the use of foreign passports or foreign birth certificates, according to court papers.

The state's new practice followed its analysis of licensed drivers with issued Social Security numbers in 2002. The review found that of 11.5 million licensed New York drivers, DMV couldn't verify the Social Security numbers of about 600,000 people.

DMV then issued letters threatening to revoke the licenses if the drivers didn't supply valid Social Security numbers. Most people provided the numbers, but 252,000 haven't responded and would have been subject to license revocation under the practice, according to the court decision.

In its first months, the anti-terrorism measure seized 7,000 licenses before Smith's order.

New York is among a dozen states that do not limit driver's licenses to legal residents.

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On the Net:

http://www.nycourts.gov/whatsnew