A top Homeland Security Department official said a law in New York that allows illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses could put residents’ lives in danger.
Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, defended the department’s decision to block New York from participating in several Trusted Traveler Programs, including Global Entry enrollment, citing the state’s Green Light Law in its justification for doing so.
During a call with reporters, Cuccinelli said a “main problem” that occurred in the events leading up to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, was that the attackers used Virginia licenses to book the flights. “It was embarrassing to us in Virginia that the majority of 9/11 terrorists used Virginia driver’s licenses to help accomplish their evil mission, and we set about to fix that. And we did fix that,” Cuccinelli explained.
He added, “Here, we have one of the other targets of 9/11, who are walking backwards quite intentionally in the other direction to bar the sharing of law enforcement relevant information like vehicle registration, matching driver’s licenses to identifications, and, critically, criminal records which are kept up to date and DMV databases.”
The Green Light Law allowed the Department of Motor Vehicles to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and also prevents the department from sharing information about the legal status of those who apply for the licenses with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Trusted Traveler Programs, such as TSA PreCheck, from which New York is blocked allow states to verify the identities of travelers to fast-track security at airports. After the change from DHS, New York residents will not be able to renew their enrollment in several of the programs.
Cuccinelli said 80,000 New Yorkers who were applying for status in the Trusted Travelers Programs were immediately denied when the department’s announcement took effect. He estimated that an additional 175,000 would be rejected moving forward.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, condemned the Trump administration’s decision to block New York’s participation, claiming the move had little to do with safety.
“The Trump administration’s ban on all New Yorkers applying for Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler programs is a purely punitive move that has nothing to do with security. It is clearly a blatant attempt by the White House to score political points and perpetuate a partisan fight with New York elected officials,” he said.
Rep. Tom Reed, a New York Republican, supported the decision, saying, “This is yet another result of one-party extremist in Albany control hurting New Yorkers, and we warned of this impending outcome two weeks ago. As someone who lived through 9/11, I am astonished how Gov. Cuomo could disregard the words of the 9/11 Commission, where they noted, ‘For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons.’”
On the first day that driver’s licenses became available to illegal immigrants, DMV offices were flooded with hundreds of individuals applying for the new identification cards.
Cuccinelli, 51, is also the principal deputy director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency in addition to his role as acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security. He was previously attorney general of Virginia and ran unsuccessfully for governor of the state in 2013.
