Posted on 10/15/2007 9:54:11 AM PDT by Liz
Quiet policy twist criticized on security grounds
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, noncitizens who legally obtained New York State driver’s licenses have been given licenses stamped “temporary visitor” along with the date their visa expired. No longer.
The Spitzer administration three weeks ago quietly eliminated the state policy that required the special identification stamp on the driver’s licenses for noncitizens who are legally, though temporarily, residing in the United States.
The policy change also eliminated the accompanying expiration date that was intended to show when the person’s legal right to be in the United States ended — raising the chance that a valuable form of identification could remain in the hands of people who want to remain in the country illegally.
This recent decision to stop labeling licenses of noncitizens comes as the governor is also pressing ahead with a companion policy in which the state would permit immigrants here illegally to obtain driver’s licenses.
Opponents of Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer’s latest move say it sends a signal that New York does not care whether individuals are within its borders illegally. They point out that three of the terrorist hijackers on 9/11 had expired visas and that driver’s licenses were among the forms of identification they possessed to carry out their plot.
“There are more holes in this plan than Swiss cheese,” said Wayne F. Jagow, the Niagara County clerk, whose office processes driver’s license applications for the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
But allies of Spitzer say the visitor designation can be discriminatory and does not take into account that someone’s legal status could have been extended beyond the stamped date. They also say that it makes motor vehicle clerks serve as quasi-immigration processors, all while creating an atmo- sphere that encourages profiling of foreigners.
“Driver’s licenses are not a way to control immigration. Driver’s licenses are issued by the jurisdictions to prove people can drive,” said Tyler Moran, employment policy director of the National Immigration Law Council, which represents and advocates for low-income immigrants.
Moran called opposition to the removal of the visitor status label “a red herring that the anti-immigration groups are putting out there as fearmongering.” New York driver’s licenses are valid for eight years, whether given to legal residents or people living in the country temporarily. But about 16 months after 9/11, noncitizens living legally in New York began getting licenses with a new stamp, placed below their photographs, stating “temporary visitor.”
Next to that was the expiration date of their legal status, which could range from months to several years depending on several factors, such as whether they are in the United States on college student visas or on temporary work status.
Sept. 24, a few days after Spitzer announced his policy affecting licenses for illegal aliens, the stamping program for legal temporary residents was eliminated. The Spitzer administration could not provide details about the number of temporary visitor licenses issued.
Providing a rationale
The Spitzer administration offered several explanations for the change, not the least of which is that it “makes no sense” to give licenses to illegal immigrants, as it plans to do within two months, while at the same time affixing a stamp onto licenses of noncitizens who are in the country legally, said a Spitzer administration official speaking on background. Moreover, visitors could have their status revoked by the federal government the day after they got their driver’s licenses, and New York officials would never know it.
Likewise, a foreign visitor could get an extension of his stay, which would not be reflected on the driver’s license. (County officials, though, say people simply could re-apply and get a new expiration date.)
“As the labels had no legitimate use or accuracy, they could only be used by people to discriminate against lawfully present noncitizens, which is itself unlawful,” the Spitzer administration official added.
But critics say that it makes little sense to provide noncitizens a full, eight-year driver’s license if they are only legally permitted to stay in the country for, say, six months. While critics acknowledge that the vast majority of immigrants and visitors have no intention of doing harm to the country, opponents say the policy will make it easier for those who do have such intentions by providing access to a major form of identification used throughout the country.
Moreover, critics say, it takes away from police a tool used for apprehending illegal immigrants. Now all licenses will resemble each other, whether for a resident or a noncitizen visiting for what is supposed to be a set time frame.
“This gives them a signature document of identification that can be flashed long beyond their legal status in this country,” said Neil Berro, a spokesman for the Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License, whose members include some families of victims of 9/11. Berro called it an act of “negligence” by the state in failing to recognize the importance of the driver’s license as a proof of identity.
“It underscores the fact that in a society that does not have a national ID card, nor do we want a national ID card, it argues for the security of the driver’s license, not taking steps to go backwards,” Berro said. Immigration groups say the stamping policy caused problems for people here legally.
People who receive asylum in the United States after fleeing a war-torn country or other such place are given permanent legal status to be here, said David L. Eng, an attorney with the New York Immigration Coalition, but in the last couple of years, many such people were getting the stamped licenses instead of the regular ones.
“That information has no business being on a driver’s license in the first place,” Eng said. “DMV officers should not be put in a position of having to act like immigration officials.” Eng discounted contentions that noncitizen visitors will use the license as a way to help stay here after a visa expires, noting that there is a major incentive — deportation — for such people to keep their status legal.
‘Very serious concern’
But county clerks, who process the driver’s licenses in most counties, say the policy has helped law enforcement and is a way to provide a signal to those examining a driver’s license for identification purposes that a person’s visa to remain in the country may have lapsed. They say the new policy will permit people to come to New York from other states to get the valuable identification document that now will not indicate when a visa expires.
“I have a very serious concern that, instead of tightening up the security on the driver’s license to show people they are visitors and when they should be leaving, [the license] now no longer has that indication,” said Kathleen A. Marchione, the Saratoga County clerk and president of a statewide county clerks association.
The group recently backed a resolution opposing Spitzer’s licensing policy for illegal immigrants, and a dozen county clerks have said they will not enforce it. The new policy removing the “temporary visitor” stamp, however, is out of the clerks’ hands, since the license itself is issued by the state, not the county clerks. Spitzer’s allies say opponents are crossing a dangerous line by suggesting that terrorism is an immigration problem.
“It scares people,” which he said is part of the opposition’s intention, Eng said. “Immigration status does not indicate any greater threat of being a terrorist or not.”
ITEM A patriot defending America protested NY Gov. Spitzer's plan to issue drivers' licenses to illegal aliens, was strong-armed, and unceremoniously shoved by a member of the governor's detail at the Columbus Day parade.
IRRATIONAL THINKING IMPOSED ON AMERICA Even scarier, politicians sucking up to illegals are saturating the US political system with the kind of offensive irrational thinking one finds in Mexican and Mideast-type hellholes.
SELF-MOTIVATED POLS TEAR DOWN POLITICAL SYSTEM Spitler (and illegal-enabler Giuliani) dance to the same piper----they are obsessed with tearing down the US political establishment to advance themselves up the political ladder. Spitler and Giuliani are orchestrating a very dirty game played by remorseless people.
As Spitzer arrives, Democrats cringe
Couldn't happen to a nicer party.
You can’t pass a even credit card without revealing its expiration date.
Whether the NY citizens are killed on purpose in criminal activity, or killed "accidentally" in drunk driving accidents, either way they are just as dead. And just as needlessly. And just as much the fault of Spitzer.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article, "That's What I Fear about the South"
My announcement of running for Congress in 2008 appears here.
I see Toilet Head is doing his thing.
N-i-c-e take.
According to Brian Eng, “DMV officers should not be put in a position of having to act like immigration officials.” Isn’t that too bad??!! I guess that what DMV officers should be doing then is harrassing motorists.
By the way Mr Eng, I don’t like employers being put in the position of being tax collectors. What say you??
I suppose this is all one needs before filling out a same-day voter registration or contingent ballet. Too bad the sticker is gone. Donde esta el votingbooth?
It never was verification of US citizenship. You have never needed to be a US citizen to get a drivers license in any state as far as I know.
Drivers License Fight Continues
While Senators repeated the concerns that have been voiced for a couple of weeks now: that this would allow terrorists into the country, it’s unfair to legal citizens, and that it was sprung on the state and local county clerks with almost no warning or input, one of the newer developments centered on the possibility that the Senate could stymie this whole plan by simply withholding funding needed to complete it.
That’s because the Phase II (Phase I has already started) entails money-requiring items such as creation of a special inspection unit to examine the passports that illegal aliens would use in lieu of Social Security numbers to get licenses.
Senator Tom Libous, R-Binghamton, for example, suggested they could still be in session in December ‘08, haggling over funding for the plan if the governor doesn’t re-think it. “It needs more thought. It needs more discussion,'’ said Libous, echoing other Republican opponents who urged Spitzer to hold back on the plan.
Spitzer is an Enemy of the Republic.
What do you get when you cross a Shyster with a Spitzer?
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Answer: a Sh*tzer!
California required a birth certificate when I first applied for my license in 1973. The same was true for my middle son in 2000. The has been a perennial effort by Gil Cedillo to grant licenses to illegal aliens in California. Thus far it has been rejected. I've never seen a driver's license issued to a resident alien, so I don't know if they differ from ones issued to citizens.
The effort to require a government issued photo ID when voting has also raised the issue of whether a driver's license or state issued ID should come with verification of citizenship. The Real ID effort was supposed to address that issue, but it is getting rejected as an unfunded mandate by many states.
That’s good and very true. :)
“Today’s Republican Senate committee hearings make clear that the Senate would prefer I abdicate my foremost responsibility to protect the safety and security of New Yorkers rather than implement a smart DMV policy change that advances both.
“To their credit, Republican Senators “applauded” DMV Commissioner Swarts for the new anti-fraud measures that the DMV has tied to this policy change. Yet despite these vast security enhancements, which will make New York State’s license system the most secure in the nation, Senate Republicans continue to object to the policy simply on the grounds that the administration was restoring an immigrant’s access to a license.
“This policy is not about letting more people into this country. Rather it is a practical approach to dealing with those who are already here because of the federal government’s failure to adequately police our borders. We cannot ignore the reality that when hundreds of thousands of people do not have a driver’s license, it puts everyone in danger, and we can’t ignore the reality that when hundreds of thousands of people live in the shadows it makes our country less safe and law enforcement’s job much harder.”
This fool with his Orwellian speak: "less security makes us safer" cannot get it through his thick skull apparently that most of us are only talking about illegal aliens. Give it up gov, you cannot win this battle. With 72%+ of the public and a growing list of legislators against your scheme you are only prolonging the inevitable.
Illegals want drivers licenses? I say fine. Show the documentation and our DMV offices will print you a drivers license from your home country. Why does it have to be an American drivers license?
I can't believe that, with today's technology, we can't offer other countries our services to remotely print drivers licenses from their countries, providing the people show valid, legal, proof of citizenship of their home country.
With the internet, EDI, XML, and any other sort of data transfer protocals, why can't we interface our systems with others' systems and print a Mexican drivers license in New York for a Mexican citizen living in New York who wants identification? Wouldn't this solve the "undocumented" problem, while at the same time preserving the privileges of citizenship for Americans?
Oh? That's not what you wanted? Your home countries don't like this solution? They don't really want to know about you?
-PJ
FHWA should cut highway funding to New York State, NYS DMV is siphoning off those funds!!!
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