Cuomo Blocks Federal Immigration Officials from New York ID Database

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is continuing to block federal immigration officials from having access to the state’s identification records.

New York Democrats passed the state’s Green Light Law this year and Cuomo signed the plan into law — providing illegal aliens with driver’s licenses and banning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from having access to the records. Recently, Democrats implemented criminal penalties for anyone who shares state ID records with DHS.

In response, DHS had blocked New Yorkers from participating in fast-track travel programs such as Global Entry, which expedites entry into the U.S. from international airports; NEXUS, which expedites entry into the U.S. from Canada; SENTRI, which expedites travel into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico; as well as FAST, which expedites entry into the U.S. for truck drivers arriving from Canada and Mexico.

This week, though, DHS lifted New York’s ban after Cuomo amended the Green Light Law to allow for DHS to have access to state ID records “as necessary for an individual seeking acceptance into a trusted traveler program, or to facilitate vehicle imports and/or exports.”

Still, Cuomo has banned DHS from getting access to state ID records for law enforcement purposes carried out by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement:

The Green Light Law ultimately undermines the efforts of law enforcement officers, criminalizing their mission to secure the nation and the American people from threats and furthering the risk to their own lives. When jurisdictions like New York fail to cooperate with federal authorities, they operate more like refuges from criminal behavior, not sanctuary havens.

DHS officials have said they are working with the Department of Justice to determine whether they will take legal action against New York.

New York’s Green Light Law allows hundreds of thousands of the roughly 725,000 illegal aliens living in the state to obtain driver’s licenses. ICE agents have said the law makes it impossible for them to quickly check the immigration status of any individual they come into contact with.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.