"It Stops Today": DOJ Sues New York, Governor Hocul, And NY AG Letitia James Over Licenses For Illegals

The US Department of Justice on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the state of New York and key officials over the state's 2019 "Green Light" law, which has allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, while blocking federal immigration and border enforcement agencies from accessing the state's motor vehicle database.

The lawsuit, filed in US district Court in Albany, was announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi during a Wednesday press conference.

Aside from the state of NY, Governor Kathy Hochul, state Attorney General Letita James, and DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder were named as defendants.

The 2019 Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act prohibits New York sheriff's departments and other agencies from sharing motor vehicle data with federal authorities for the purposes of immigration enforcement. It has allowed tens of thousands of migrants to obtain driver's licenses.

Yet, as the Times Union notes, the program has been mired in fraud.

The Times Union reported in 2021 that there had been allegations of widespread cheating in the driver permit program, involving schemes to illicitly obtain driving credentials for immigrants. Many of those individuals allegedly also used the licenses to falsely prove New York residency in order to receive unemployment benefits under the state’s pandemic-era Excluded Worker Fund. The $2.1 billion program had provided unemployment benefits for a short period in 2021 for immigrants who did not qualify for regular state and federal benefits.

In December, following an investigation by multiple agencies, including the New York inspector general’s office, five men, including two immigrants who had returned to Brazil, were indicted on federal charges in Massachusetts for conspiring to apply for New York driver’s licenses for more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants who did not live in New York. 

Those charges allege the group’s conspiracy took place between November 2020 and last September, and that they typically charged customers about $1,400 to obtain a driver’s license. The scheme relied on fraudulent residency documents and falsified driving school certificates, according to the indictment.

When the law was enacted, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and other Democrats said it was intended to improve public safety by ensuring that illegal immigrants are authorized to drive - with advocates remaining silent on subsequent allegations of widespread fraud.

"From a state point of view, I want to make sure the people who are driving on our roads pass a driving test. It is a public safety issue," Cuomo insisted during a February 2020 interview.

In February 2020, former acting director of ICE, Matthew T. Albence, said that law enforcement leaders urged Cuomo and state lawmakers to restore access to NY's motor vehicle database for ICE and the US Customs and Border Protection.

"New York has barred these two agencies, and only these two agencies, from obtaining information we need to do our jobs, and to keep you safe, and it was done purely for political purposes," Albence said at the time. "As a 25-year law enforcement professional, it’s unfathomable that information which could be used to prevent crime or a potential terrorist attack is purposefully being withheld in this state, the same state that less than 20 years ago suffered the worst terrorist attack on American soil."