The majority of New York county clerks are opposed to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to allow illegal immigrants access to valid New York driver’s licenses, and some have threatened not to enforce the policy if it is unchanged.
Spitzer’s plan would be in two phases. The first phase, implemented between now and April 2008, would offer licenses to about 152,000 people around the state who have lost their because the Social Security numbers they gave turned out to be fraudulent.
Phase two will take between six and eight months in order to allow the Department of Motor Vehicles to make necessary infrastructure changes.
The state Association of County Clerks estimates the new rules could result in 200,000 to 500,000 new licenses.
Saratoga County Clerk Kathleen Marchione, president of the New York State Association of County Clerks, proposed a resolution at a recent association meeting to urge the governor to withdraw his policy. Of the state’s 62 county clerks, 29 voted in favor of the resolution, four opposed, and three abstained.
Twenty-six clerks did not participate in the meeting.
We believe it leaves our state at risk, and we’ve moved forward with our resolution as a collective body because we believe it’s an inappropriate action, and we do not want to do it, said Marchione.
Marchione also said the policy will waste county and state resources. She said that if an illegal immigrant presents a document to the county clerk’s office that is in a foreign language, that document must be scanned, then sent to and reviewed by a state agency to determine its validity. If the document turns out to be fake, the state has spent time and money without collecting a dime, she said.
`There has to be a way to recoup that money,` she said. Marchione suggests a nonrefundable deposit, collected before paperwork begins.
She and about a dozen other Republican clerks said they would not enforce Spitzer’s policy, even though they would be in violation of the law and susceptible to lawsuits by whomever they denied a license.
John J. Woodward, the clerk of Schenectady County and a Democrat, said he will enforce the governor’s policy and that partisan politics is the real issue in this debate.
As a New Yorker, Woodward said there are things about the policy he likes and things he dislikes. But as a county clerk, his position is much clearer:
`The bottom line is I have no choice when it comes to this policy. I would be violating my oath of office if I didn’t uphold the law,` he said. `I’m sure some of my constituents may not be happy about that, but I’ve got to choose what’s legal over politics.`
The Republican legislators in Schenectady County disagree with their clerk.
`As Republicans, we take the safety of the people of our community and state very seriously`, Schenectady County Legislator James Buhrmaster stated. `Our county, state and nation have spent billions to improve the security of all Americans and to identify those who might wish to harm us. We publicly ask the governor to reconsider this unlawful and ill-conceived action. He should know we will not stand idly by as he tries to do by decree, what the law does not permit.`
Spitzer says the policy will create safer streets, lower insurance rates and make the country safer.
`This policy change helps bolster homeland security by bringing more individuals into the system and, when necessary, assisting law enforcement efforts to locate those who present a real security threat,` he said in a Sept. 21 written statement.
Law enforcement officials are hesitant to make an official statement on the policy itself, but some have chimed in with how it would affect their operations.
`We have strong feelings against any proposal that will provide illegal immigrants with enticements to enter a state and hide in plain sight,` said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, in a written statement. The NBPC is the union that represents about 10,000 Border Patrol agents. `There’s no doubt this would hamper homeland security.`
Locally, one police department said it wasn’t concerned with the new regulation affecting its work.
`The only thing we would be concerned with is whether or not a person has a valid New York state driver’s license,` said Lt. Greg Veitch, director of communications for the Saratoga Springs Police Department. `Who can apply, or how someone can apply does not affect us. If it’s a valid New York document, it wouldn’t affect our procedures at all.` “
