Suit may KO illegal-immig licenses
The last-minute state law granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants was hit with a legal challenge Tuesday that could torpedo the measure.
Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns filed a suit against Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday over the Green Light Bill passed by Albany lawmakers and signed by Cuomo in the final days of the legislative session.
Kearns — who is asking a Buffalo US Court judge to block the law before it goes into effect in December — argues that it will put him in an impossible position because following it would break federal law and refusing to follow it could earn him a pink slip from Cuomo, who can remove the elected clerk via executive order.
“If he fails to do so he is at risk of enforcement or removal from office,” the suit reads. “But if Mr. Kearns carries out his duties under the Green Light Law, he faces the credible threat of criminal prosecution by federal authorities.”
The law shields immigrants’ information from federal immigration authorities absent a warrant, but Kearns argues that breaks federal laws against concealing, harboring or shielding “from detection an individual illegally in the United States,” according to the suit, which also names Attorney General Letitia James and Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Mark Schroeder.
Cuomo, who reluctantly signed the bill on the day it was passed, admitted in a radio interview Tuesday that the legislation is “very questionable” and suggested the law may not stand up to a federal challenge, despite James’ repeated assertions that the law is “well crafted” and “constitutional.”
Kearns — a registered Democrat who was elected to the state Assembly and then the clerkship on a Republican ticket — is one of several moderate and conservative county clerks pushing back against the law.
Saratoga County Clerk Craig Hayner and 30 other clerks asked President Trump to tell the Justice Department to review the law.
Republican Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan on Tuesday applauded Kearns for bringing the suit.
“I commend Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns for his leadership in filing a federal lawsuit challenging a law passed by Democrats in Albany that would give New York driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants,” he wrote on Facebook. “It’s wrong, it’s illegal, and the Courts have an obligation to step in and stop it from happening.”
Cuomo responded to the suit Tuesday saying, “Bring it to the courts and let the courts decide.”