New York’s Green Light Law takes effect
Licenses possible for undocumented people
ALBANY, N.Y. – Federal immigration and border officials have been blocked from New York’s DMV database, a move that keeps them from accessing data that can be used to help determine whether a vehicle owner has a criminal history or a warrant for their arrest.
New York’s Green Light Law took effect Saturday, allowing those without legal immigration status to apply for driver’s licenses in New York.
But the law also included a provision prohibiting state DMV officials from providing any of its data to entities that enforce immigration law unless a judge orders them to, leading the state to cut off database access to at least three federal agencies last week.
Among them were U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, or CBP – which patrols the U.S.-Canada border in New York – and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Federal officials appeared caught off guard by the change last week, which was laid out in the state law approved in June.
The information federal officers can access from the database is important to keep them and the public safe, said Mark Morgan, CBP’s acting commissioner.
“New York’s Green Light Law is detrimental to CBP and ICE,” Morgan said in a statement Tuesday.
“The information we receive from New York state is vital to our missions, and blocking federal law enforcement officers from accessing it creates a significant threat to both officer and public safety.”
The data is “vital to building out these criminal cases, identifying criminal suspects, and enhancing officer safety,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The DMV database allows officers to quickly access information about a vehicle registration holder, including their traffic history. The data can then be used to determine whether a driver is on a sex-offender registry or has a criminal history and whether they have outstanding warrants.
Officers often run license plates through the database during traffic stops and similar encounters.
New York’s Democratic-led Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved the Green Light Law in June, allowing immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission to use foreign-issued documents to prove their age and ID so they can apply for driving privileges.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice weighed in earlier this month, intervening in Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola’s lawsuit that sought to block the Green Light Law from taking effect. Trump, a Republican, has made tough immigration policies a central piece of his presidency. The DOJ only weighed in on the datablocking provision, calling it “legally suspect” and questioning whether it violates federal law.
But U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe later dismissed Merola’s lawsuit entirely without considering the DOJ questions, deciding Merola didn’t have the legal capacity to sue.