The Daily Caller is reporting that the “Department of Homeland Security press office responded to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio after he lauded the idea of giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens and said such a policy protects pedophiles, terrorists and other malicious people.”
“Spare us your amnesty – It makes every person more vulnerable when you shield pedophiles, child pornographers, human traffickers, and terrorists from law enforcement,” the DHS Press Secretary account tweeted Tuesday.
DHS was responding to an earlier tweet the NYC mayor made. DeBlasio said giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens makes “everyone” safer and accused DHS of issuing out “scare tactics.”
“Spare us your scare tactics — it makes EVERYONE safer when every driver on our roads has a license,” de Blasio wrote Monday and criticized DHS opposition to a recently implemented law allowing undocumented aliens to obtain driver’s licenses.
The Democratic-controlled New York State Legislature passed, and Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law, legislation earlier in 2019 that allows undocumented aliens to obtain driver’s licenses with foreign documentation. The Green Light law — overcoming a courtroom challenge and opposition from a cadre of county clerks — went into effect on Dec. 14. Footage taken Monday showed massive lines of people outside DMVs, presumably waiting to obtain a U.S. license for the first time.
However, numerous county clerks in the state have expressed deep reservations about the law and say it paves the way for voter fraud, identity theft and even terrorism.
“Anyone who is here illegally can get into a federal building and can fly on our airplanes and can cross our borders,” Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns, a Democrat, said on Dec. 14 during an appearance on Fox News.
There are other provisions in the law that is concerning to the Department of Homeland Security. Namely, the law bars Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, from accessing DMV information — even if it is investigating matters such as human trafficking, child pornography and terrorism.
It also helps to shield them from deportation. If a police officer pulls over an authorized immigrant driving without a license, they could be referred to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent to removal proceedings.
Research by New York City found that having a driver’s license provides additional financial stability for families and increases employment opportunities for unauthorized immigrants. Having a car allows them to look for more jobs and housing that are not located near public transportation.
The Trump administration has pushed back against efforts to prevent ICE from accessing DMV data. As New York’s Green Light law went into effect Monday, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that those records allow it to investigate crimes such as human trafficking by “building criminal cases, identifying criminal suspects, and enhancing officer safety.”