Protest Planned Against Spitzer's Immigrant License Deal

October 28, 2007

An immigrant rights group is planning a rally outside Governor Eliot Spitzer's office today to protest his new plan for letting illegal immigrants get drivers' licenses.

The New York Immigration Coalition says the three-tiered license system will have a negative impact on immigrants' lives.

Spitzer joined Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff in Washington Saturday to announce changes that they say will make the state's licensing system more secure.

Under the deal, the state will enter into the federal REAL ID program. Illegal immigrants will be able to get licenses, but won’t be able to use them to board planes or enter federal buildings. The state will offer a second level of licenses to U.S. citizens and legal aliens that could be used for those purposes.

A third license will be offered to Upstate New Yorkers that will let them cross the Canadian border without a passport, when a new law goes into effect next year.

Some immigrant activists are calling Spitzer's move purely political and an outright betrayal.

"We're devastated. We've been working for years to achieve the right outcome in New York. We were so pleased and thrilled – all our communities were – five weeks ago when the governor did the right thing and opened up the driver's license system to immigrants,â€