The following letter was mailed to state leaders Friday-
Governor Cuomo, Majority Leader Cousins and Speaker Heastie:
I am strongly opposed the provisions of the recently effective Green Light Law which granted undocumented immigrants special access to New York State drivers’ licenses. The provision of that law which effectively denies federal immigration officials access to State Department of Motor Vehicle records is a serious law enforcement issue, and one about which I feel compelled to express my opposition and deep concern.
As part of our Constitutional obligation to preserve the peace and protect the public, New York Sheriffs have a long history of cooperating with all of our federal partners, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agencies primarily charged with protecting our citizens’ safety through enforcement of our Nation’s immigration laws. Our inability, under the new law, to share DMV data with federal immigration officers jeopardizes the safety of those officers. I find it offensive that, in order to avail our own deputies, troopers and local police officers of DMV data that they need for their own safe operations, I was coerced into signing a non-disclosure agreement which jeopardizes their safety and that of our federal partners.
I strongly urge you to reconsider this unwise attempt to hamper in the discharge of our duties the dedicated public servants who have been given the duty of protecting all Americans by enforcing the duly enacted laws of this country. You may disagree with those laws, and there are proper ways for you to express that disagreement. Obstructing federal officials in the enforcement of federal law is not one of them.
