Renew Push to Give Undocumented Right to Drive

By THUYA KYAW

Assembly members Ron Kim and Ari Espinal announced their support on Thursday for legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for New York State driver’s licenses.

The legislation, titled Greenlight NY Bill, was first introduced by a fellow assembly member Marcos Crespo, and was expected to help New Yorkers who are struggling to get a license due to their immigration status.

“This is a very important step because almost 800,000 immigrants in New York are living without a driver’s license in fear of getting caught or punished,” Kim said. “Yet they get behind the wheels so they create unsafe environment for everyone around them. So this is one clear way that we can say we can embrace immigrants.”

The bill could pass as soon as next week when it was expected to be introduced in Albany. However, Kim blames New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the senate for not collaborating enough to pass the bill earlier, with one example being a dismal state budget announced back in April for 2018/19 – which immigrant rights advocates say fails to meet their needs or expands protection for their communities.

He said he believes the upcoming gubernatorial election where he faced a stiff challenge from the left by actress Cynthia Nixon would push Cuomo to do more positive things for the immigrants.

“I think this election will be an opportunity for the governor to show the immigrant community how much he genuinely cares about these issues,” Kim said. “There are a lot he can do in the next one month for the community legislatively and we’ll look forward to working with him.”

This is not the first time that a proposal was made. In 2007, then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer issued an executive order that allowed undocumented persons to obtain driver’s licenses by showing a foreign passport as identification.

However, he quickly dropped his plans when faced with backlash from Republicans nationwide.