County clerks oppose change in licensing

By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau


COOPERSTOWN _ A change in requirements intended to make it easier for illegal immigrants to renew their state drivers' licenses does not sit well with some county clerks, including Otsego County Clerk Kathy Sinnott-Gardner.

``I don't see why we should make the requirements more lenient for illegal immigrants than they are for our own citizens,'' she said.

Last week, Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner David Swarts announced the DMV would no longer require non-citizens to produce Social Security numbers when renewing their licenses.

State law has required all license applicants to show either Social Security numbers or a letter from the Social Security Administration saying they were ineligible to receive Social Security numbers. The administrative change announced Sept. 21 waives this requirement for non-citizens.

According to the governor's website, www.ny.gov/governor/press, ``Individuals instead will provide a current foreign passport and other valid and verifiable documents to prove identity.

``As such, the DMV will be able to achieve its primary goal in issuing licenses, which is to ensure that the individual who is receiving the license is not misrepresenting (himself) to obtain a fraudulent identity card, and controlling who has access to driving motor vehicles,'' the website says.

The policy change will be phased in.

In the first phase, which has begun, letters are being sent to about 152,000 New Yorkers, including 205 in Otsego County, who have, or had, valid New York licenses, but have been unable to renew them because they did not have proper identification. By the end of this year, they will be able to visit DMV offices and renew their licenses without showing Social Security numbers.

Next year, in phase two, the same rules will apply to other immigrants.

In announcing the change, Spitzer said, ``I applaud the DMV and Commissioner Swarts for making this commonsense change that deals practically with the reality that hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants live among us, and that allowing them the opportunity to obtain driver licenses in a responsible and secure manner will help increase public safety.''

Sinnott-Gardner, a Republican, says she's not convinced.

``And I don't see how this is going to make us safer,'' she said.

State Assemblyman Peter Lopez, R-Schoharie, a former county clerk, said, ``I'm stunned. This doesn't make any sense, and I think it puts our communities at risk.''

Lopez said licenses are prized by people who are in the United States illegally, and providing licenses more easily is a step in the wrong direction.

State Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, said he doesn't believe that Spitzer has the legal authority to circumvent the state law mandating Social Security numbers or SSA documents to obtain a driver's license.

``I can't believe that in the post-9/11 era, the governor is doing this,'' Seward said.

A number of state senators are upset by the change, and the Legislature may react to it during a special session in October, he said.

According to the governor's website, the change has been praised by officials including acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton, state Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo, state Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Balboni, as well as immigration experts.

Frank Merola, a Republican who is Rensselaer County clerk, said he is unimpressed.

``How can we be more secure with less security?'' he said Tuesday. ``What this is going to do is diminish the value of a license as an indication that someone is here legally. I don't see how that helps at all.''

Merola said clerks around the state are upset by the change and are seeking legal advice to determine whether they have to abide by it.

If they do not have to abide by the change, he said, applicants without Social Security numbers may be directed to state DMV offices rather than county-operated DMV offices, he said.

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