Posted on 02/06/2020 11:01:27 AM PST by BenLurkin
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it will no longer allow New York state residents to enroll in programs intended to expedite international travel because of a state law that blocks immigration authorities from accessing motor vehicle records.
New York's "Green Light" law, which took effect in December, allows immigrants without legal status to apply for driver's licenses. It also includes a provision barring state officials at the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing data with immigration authorities unless a judge orders them to do so.
Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary at DHS, told reporters on a conference call Thursday that the state law was "dangerous — really thoughtless in terms of unintended consequences."
"President Trump certainly made it clear that if sanctuary city politicians — and sanctuary state, as well — won't keep their people safe, we'll do the best we can to keep them safe," Cuccinelli said.
He said his department has suspended all applications and renewals connected with several of its "trusted traveler" programs — such as Global Entry and NEXUS, which are designed to facilitate and speed up security screening at ports of entry. (TSA PreCheck is not affected.)
Cuccinelli said the New York law makes it more difficult for federal law enforcement officers to determine whether they're dealing with dangerous criminals.
"Obviously, we would urge New York to undo that law and to restore some sanity to its own attempts to help preserve public safety," he said.
And he said the move represents a warning for any state legislators elsewhere who are considering following in New York's footsteps.
"We would urge them to reconsider," Cuccinelli said. "But at least know that if you go down that path, you are cutting their citizens off from a variety of privileges that currently exist and are available to those citizens.
A spokesman for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who signed the state law in June, described the Trump administration's move as "political retaliation" and says the state is considering its legal options.
The Democratic governor, in an interview with member station WAMC, noted that New York is just one of a number of states that have such a law in place, and that the Trump administration — contrary to usual procedure — did not direct concerns to state officials privately before going public with the suspension.
"They never called. They never had a conversation. They sent a letter. They immediately did a press release and a press call," Cuomo told WAMC.
"They want to make their political point — which is that they're anti-immigrant, New York is supporting immigrants, and this is another way to make their political points," Cuomo added.
"And if they have to inconvenience New Yorkers to make their political points, so be it, because they're all about the politics."
Gee, there’s probably a few international travelers with high net worth that live in New York and really like not having to wait in customs for every business trip across the pond. This is gonna cause a bit of an earthquake.
They shouldn’t let anybody fly on a N.Y. license, period.
no. the administration is not anti-immigrant.
its anti-ILLEGAL and.or dangerous immigrant.
HUGE difference, there!
What is really going on is that the NY law has made it impossible for the CBP to actually do its job in processing applications for Trusted Traveler Programs.
That is on New York for writing a cruddy law. They should have known this would happen, and they may have done it anyway, to score political points to make it look like Trump is bad.
They are the bad ones for overreaching. They are hurting law abiding citizens.
In other words, NY threw out the baby with the bath water when they wrote the law this way.
As it should be.
A good, and legal move. NY’s drivers license doesn’t meet federal standards, since they don’t vet the recipients (and give them out like candy to ILLEGALS).
Thanks for the *hope*, but I doubt it ... street crime is skyrocketing due to this new 'no bail' law, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has already stated that he could care less. Meanwhile lil' Andy is also uninterested.
While that may be true, it isn’t the case for everyone. There are plenty of normal everyday folks who do travel internationally for business purposes that are caught up in this. This was a convenience for sure, but this is intentional to make Trump look bad.
It is a poorly worded law that roped in a lot of law abiding people, and the CBP’s hands are tied because of it. They can’t process the applications that they have, so it has to be suspended until this can be reworded.
I guess Trump wants my Florida vote in November.
Good job, Mr. President.
To explain: The Feds use data included in the state DMV databases, in order to check you out, to see if you have something in your record that would adversely affect security. NYState just passed a law that would prevent the Feds from having access to these databases.
So, the Feds can’t check you out the way they did before. I think the new policy makes sense. Why should they give you expedited passage through airline security, if they haven’t been able to check you out thoroughly?
No renewals, no new applicants.
Existing cards/registration within expiration remain valid.
Yeah, I don't know how people can tolerate that. You would think there would be enough pressure to get rid of such a law, but yet it's still there.
It’s actually not a new policy.
See https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/eligibility
Note that page hasn’t been updated since 2017.
New York knew or should have known that their new law would affect law abiding citizens as well as illegals.
Why does any jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate with ICE get ANY federal money?
Federal Administrative Power is Awesome.
Punish lawbreaking opponents now, just like 0bummer did to law following opponents.
Thanks, That makes sense to me. Its directly related to security and law abiding New Yorkers have to live with their states resistance policy consequences.
Look up The Green Light Law which went to effect in December 2019. Any illegal can get a DL. If DHS cannot verify info (because DMV doesn't have it, because they didn't ask for it)then how can the Global entry info be valid?
At least two clerks in Upstate NY are fighting the Green Law. They refuse to fill it because it is illegal.
Just heard on the news that my state,the Gay State (Massachusetts),is gonna start issuing driver’s licenses to wetbacks. Yup,it’s in the interests of “public safety” they claim.
It's not difficult to see that in order to provide such a service the CBP people would need info allowing them to confirm that a particular applicant is a "solid citizen"...and that would include driving records.
Makes me wonder if there are any other agencies, DOT for example, that NYS is denying access to if asked.
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