DMV defends Green Light Law meant to protect immigrants

The Department of Motor Vehicles defended a state law that blocks it from sharing information with federal immigration officials, after the law came under attack by incoming President Donald Trump’s border czar. Earlier in the day, Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t explicitly rule out revisiting the law, even as she said it was “bizarre” that the Trump official suggested that he may block cars with New York plates from entering the country over the issue.

At issue is a state law that prevents the DMV from sharing information with federal immigration authorities. Since 2019, New York has had a so-called “Green Light” Law that permits undocumented immigrants to get a driver’s license. A key provision of the law, which was crucial to getting it passed at the time, is one that ensures that federal immigration agents don’t have access to that data. The law is one of several “sanctuary” policies enacted at the state level meant to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation. 

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan took aim at the policy in a recent interview with The Buffalo News. He did not rule out the possibility of blocking cars and trucks with Empire State license plates from returning to the country. Considering New York borders Canada, such a policy could have an enormous economic and social impact on the state. “To me, this is a high priority,” Homan told the Western New York outlet about safety concerns over accessing DMV data. “I grew up in New York state, I still own a home in the state. What happens in New York means a lot to me.” 

The Buffalo News previously reported that blocking vehicles with New York plates was under serious consideration at the Department of Homeland Security. Homan did not confirm or deny the specifics, but said there are “a number of strategies that we’ll be looking at.”

A spokesperson for the DMV offered a defense of the law in a statement to City & State. “Any claim that the Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act is worsening border crime is nothing short of a political fear tactic,” said Walter McClure, referring to the Green Light Law by its other name. “If opponents of the law have evidence to the contrary, then we strongly encourage them to expose real, proven data that supports their claims.” He added that the DMV has never impeded information being sent to federal immigration authorities when presented with a court order or judicial warrant and said that the law has made New York streets safer by keeping unlicensed and uninsured drivers off the road.

Speaking to reporters at an unrelated press conference on Monday, Hochul’s response was certainly less full-throttled. She called the prospect of blocking New York cars “bizarre,” but she didn’t explicitly rule out sharing DMV data with federal authorities. “That would be bizarre to me, that anyone thinks that stopping our vehicles from coming in and out of our country, keeping New Yorkers in a foreign country, is a smart path forward,” Hochul said. “I’d like to sit down and have that conversation.”

Asked for clarity on Hochul’s comments on Monday, and whether she would be open to revisiting the state law blocking federal immigration authorities from accessing DMV data, a spokesperson said she is “committed to public safety, and is committed to secure borders and safe streets,” but did not directly address the question of tweaking the law. The spokesperson added that the DMV “has the power to communicate with federal immigration authorities when a crime has been committed.” 

Under current law, the state may only share information with “any agency that primarily enforces immigration law” when compelled to through a “lawful court order or judicial warrant signed by a judge.” Many times, immigration requests come through administrative warrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that are not signed by a federal judge.

The Green Light Law originally passed during the first Trump administration. In response to the law, the Department of Homeland Security suspended New Yorkers’ ability to be part of the Trusted Traveler Program near the start of 2020. The federal agency reversed that decision a few months later after the state amended the law to permit the limited information-sharing necessary for participation in the program. However, the amendment also strengthened provisions prohibiting information-sharing with immigration authorities, making it a class E Felony to do so.

Hochul has previously expressed a willingness to crack down on undocumented immigrants found guilty of crimes. “Someone breaks the law, I'll be the first one to call up ICE and say, ‘Get them out of here,’” the governor said in November. She has since clarified that she wants accused undocumented criminals to make their way through the criminal justice system before deportation proceedings. Hochul also indicated that she would include new proposals to increase cooperation between state and federal authorities when it comes to immigration enforcement for people who break the law. She told Politico New York that she is developing a “full, comprehensive approach” to immigration enforcement.

The governor has not gone as far as New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has said he wants to deport undocumented immigrants simply accused of crimes and divisively had a sitdown meeting with Homan a few weeks ago. “I had a great conversation with the border czar,” Adams told reporters last month. “In the area of public safety, we are aligned.”

Hochul has not had a meeting or phone call with Homan, but she did speak with Trump following the election. During that conversation, she expressed an interest in working with the president-elect on shared priorities, including revitalizing Penn Station and improving mass transit. While detailing that phone call to reporters in Puerto Rico in November, Hochul did not mention immigration. But she said she would be “unrelenting in protecting the rights of New Yorkers.