Thread: NY:Illegals applying for licenses risk being arrested

Illegals applying for licenses risk being arrested

Erie, Niagara county clerks develop plan to counter Spitzer’s directive

By Tom Precious - NEWS ALBANY BUREAU
Updated: 10/25/07 6:46 AM


“We didn’t ask to be put in this situation, but this is the proper recourse.â€

CHUCK'S SLAP AT ELIOT
By ABBY WISSE SCHACHTER


October 25, 2007 -- SEN. Chuck Schumer isn't known for holding his tongue, but on the subject of Gov. Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to undocumented New Yorkers, he's been practically mute. Asked about it recently, Schumer declared driver's licenses "a state matter" and declined to comment further.
But actions really do speak louder than words - and with the stroke of a pen Schumer has now put himself on a crash course with Gov. Steamroller and his driver's license lunacy. This week, Schumer signed a letter demanding that $50 million in funds dedicated for the implementation of the REAL ID Act remain part of the 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill.

The 9/11 Commission said that the "federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as driver's licenses . . . At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists."

In 2005, the REAL ID Act created just such national standards for issuing driver's licenses and other ID cards. Indeed, New York's driver's license was practically the feds' model. But six years after 9/11, many states, citing cost, have failed to make REAL ID a reality.

In the letter, Schumer, with a bipartisan group of eight other senators, requests that a pool of money be specifically designated to help pay for implementing the stricter standards: "Congress should place the same high priority on funding REAL ID implementation as it did when the authorizing language was passed. By protecting the $50 million . . . [the Senate] conference has the ability to ensure that REAL ID can take necessary first steps toward implementation."

Problem is, Spitzer has a different plan - to issue driver's licenses to illegals - which would violate REAL ID. The gov's plan starts kicking this December: Non-legal residents of New York will be able to apply for a driver's license without a Social Security card or proof that they have a legal right to reside in New York. That contravenes REAL ID, which says applicants for driver's licenses need to provide proof of ID including Social Security numbers and proof of legal residency.

If New York driver's licenses don't meet the standards of REAL ID by December 2009, New Yorkers will have to provide different ID (such as a passport) when boarding airplanes or entering federal buildings. But that inconvenience isn't the only problem.

The point of REAL ID was to make all Americans safer from terrorist attacks by making our identification more secure and keeping legal identification out of the hands of would-be terrorists. Spitzer's plan will make it easier for bad guys to get N.Y. licenses long before the REAL ID deadline.

The gov already had choice words for Mayor Bloomberg when he expressed reservations about the plan: "He is wrong at every level - dead wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong," Spitzer exploded.

Now, Schumer has made it clear what he thinks of Spitzer's plan. The governor may not like it, but the list of opponents to this foolishness gets longer every day.

awschachter@nypost.com


http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/pri ... _eliot.htm

newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--licensespat1025oct25,0,6903408.story

Newsday.com
Clerks say they'll report illegals who apply for licenses
By CAROLYN THOMPSON

Associated Press Writer

6:19 PM EDT, October 25, 2007

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Erie County Clerk Kathleen Hochul says she'll follow Gov. Eliot Spitzer's directive to accept driver's license applications from illegal immigrants.

Then she'll follow the law, she said, and report the applicants to authorities for possible arrest and deportation.

"We just don't want to be in any sense facilitating the furtherance of illegal activity, and that's really what we're being asked to do," Hochul said Thursday.

Niagara County Clerk Wayne Jagow said he, too, has been talking with law enforcement about reporting suspicious applicants.

"Illegal is illegal," he said.

With their positions known, neither of the western New York clerks expects long lines of illegal immigrants at their county auto bureaus.

But an influx of applicants anywhere would surprise Hochul.

"I don't see anybody who is trying to hide in this country illegally, trying to stay in the shadows, trying to stay undetected, walking into an auto bureau, letting us take their picture, letting us capture their signature electronically and getting their address," she said.

Spitzer last month reversed a 2002 executive order by his predecessor, Gov. George Pataki, that required people seeking a license to provide a Social Security number. The policy change will allow illegal immigrants who have valid foreign passports to obtain driver's licenses.

A Spitzer spokeswoman said the clerks will not know for certain whether applicants are in the country illegally because they won't be required to provide documents demonstrating their immigration status.

"Any clerk making a report to federal immigration officials regarding a license applicant's immigration status will be reporting only their subjective suspicions regarding an individual's status," spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said Thursday.

The governor said the policy change will encourage those who are driving illegally to get insurance and improve public security by creating records for tens of thousands of people whose presence in the state is otherwise undocumented.

As many as 1 million immigrants live in New York, he said.

Richard A. Clarke, a former counterterrorism adviser to presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, endorsed the governor's plan last week.

But opposition among clerks who oversee the auto bureaus has not waned.

A majority of the state County Clerks Association oppose the plan. Several say they will ignore it.

Earlier this week, Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola filed a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles and DMV Commissioner David Swarts to try to block the policy change.

Jagow worries the change will "water down" an identification document heavily relied upon for voting and travel.

"The document, the driver's license, is going to lose its credibility," he said.

Jagow said he is conferring with the Niagara County district attorney and sheriff to develop a reporting procedure for suspicious applicants. In Erie County, Sheriff Timothy Howard said his officers would respond to calls by clerks who report a possible illegal immigrant.



Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press
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