December 14, 2019
Waitaminute! What's that last? Make the roads safer? The article makes it clear that people getting the licenses are not going to get a great deal of training.Illegal immigrants in New York will able to obtain driver’s licenses starting next week after a last-minute legal challenge was dismissed-- making it the 13th state to allow the practice, but one that critics say is unconstitutional.
The Green Light Law, signed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this year, allows anyone to apply for a driver’s license regardless of immigration status and does not require a Social Security number.
Illegal immigrants can use a combination of documents that include a valid passport from a foreign country and a valid foreign driver’s license, as long as it has been expired for less than two years.
"After waiting 18 years to have their right to drive restored, thanks to our legislature, New York can now officially join 12 other states in making driver’s licenses legally available to all residents,†New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Steve Choi said in a statement this week, arguing that it will make roads safer and the economy stronger.
Really? That sure hasn't stopped a whole bunch of judges from stepping all over President Trump!The controversial measure faced multiple lawsuits. Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns, whose lawsuit was dismissed last month, argued that the measure violated federal law and would make New Yorkers less safe.
"My concern is that, after 9/11, New York state put a prohibition on illegals having driving licenses and now with REAL ID in 2005 after we were attacked there will be a gap from today to Oct. 1 that anyone who is here illegally can get into a federal building and can fly on our airplanes and cross our border," he said Saturday on "Fox & Friends."
According to the Wall Street Journal, the latest challenge by Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola was dismissed Friday after a judge ruled that he had not demonstrated a "cognizable injury†and therefore lacked the standing to sue. The judge warned, however, that the ruling shouldn’t be read as an affirmation that the law is "legal.â€
"To the dissatisfaction of the parties and public-at-large, courts are at times unable to pass upon the merits of a case for one reason or another,†the judge wrote.
Kearns is County Clerk for Erie County, which is where Buffalo, NY is located. I lived there for 20 years. There's obviously more common sense there than in Albany.The Department of Motor Vehicles has been providing training and devices that can authenticate documents, although some clerks have warned that they are still not prepared for what may happen when the law goes into effect. Kearns said they have received only an hour-long webinar.
"I am now going to have to accept a report card from a foreign country and ... a foreign passport as authenticated documents.I myself as the clerk am going to have to do that," Kearns said. "We used to have to rely on a third party, the fed government, to do that so they have diminished a New York driver's license, and we are very concerned for our safety and security because western New York is a border to Canada."
Ya think? Man, what a lousy law!The Cuomo administration has made it clear clerks cannot choose to disregard the law.
"Local officials, including the county clerks who run DMV offices, cannot choose which laws they like and which they will disregard,†Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Lisa Koumjian said in a statement. "If a clerk is unwilling to follow state law, he or she should resign their office.â€
Kearns, who has put up a sign in his office that features an anonymous Immigration and Customs Enforcement tipline, has promised to personally evaluate every illegal immigrant application. He believes the law is part of a broader power play by Albany that will ultimately lead to voter fraud.
"This is all a power grab for the ballot box in New York, trying to give illegals the right to vote," he said.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
03:31 PM
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Second, how are roads safer with illegal aliens driving? Not sure I understand that. I suppose the idea is the state knows who is on the road, but if they lose their licenses, what is to stop them from driving as they are doing now? It's preposterous.
That business about no standing, how does that work? Any taxpayer has standing in this case; it's his money being used for the roads. This judge is saying "you are paying for it but have no interest in the matter."
As you point out, Dana, standing has never stopped the liberals from moving forward with ridiculous and frivolous lawsuits designed to thwart this president or any other Republican initiative. The recent case where a district Federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to stop using military money to build a border wall is a prime example. Where was standing there? This is just an excuse.
If driving is a privilege that can be taken away for, say, carelessness or drunkenness then it is clearly something that can and should be denied to people who have broken into the country without our leave.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 15, 2019 07:42 AM (br4V7)
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at December 15, 2019 09:15 AM (cInCn)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 15, 2019 11:42 AM (rWKfs)
Posted by: Bill H at December 15, 2019 03:47 PM (vMiSr)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 17, 2019 07:15 AM (dz6x/)
Seriously, you're right, of course, but stuff like this has never stopped wackos like Californica's governor before. I doubt having a license will make a difference in the driving habits of an illegal whose previous main frame of reference as far as a vehicle has been a donkey cart.
Brother-in-law David Dickinson talks about the illegals in Fresno ("the Capital of Northern Mexico") who buy a crappy car, don't register it and therefor can get away with no insurance, and if they get into an accident, they just run away from it and leave it there in the street. Somebody should ask Newsom what having a license will do to change this practice. If someone did, I'd bet money he'd play dumb and act like he'd never heard of it -- which just might be the truth.
Meanwhile, tell me again, Lizzie Warren, how our diversity is our great strength!
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at December 17, 2019 10:08 AM (vBdDy)
It won't do anything to improve road safety.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 17, 2019 10:50 AM (dz6x/)
Posted by: saleena70 at November 23, 2020 07:02 AM (3Xyak)
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