Illegal immigrants starting on Dec. 16 were allowed to apply for driver’s licenses after the Green Light law went into effect. Hundreds of illegal immigrants lined up at their local Department of Motor Vehicles offices to obtain their license, according to multiple reports.
The Green Light law had been signed off in June 2019 by Governor Andrew Cuomo. It allows illegal immigrants to use foreign identification to obtain a driver’s license in the United States, according to the Washington Examiner. The New York Times reported that applicants were still required to take and pass the appropriate writing and practical road tests before driving on the roads.
As reported by the news outlet, hundreds of illegal immigrants waited in lines reaching from inside the DMV buildings to outside, even going around the building. The New York Times reported that some of these lines even stretched for several blocks of the building.
So many people were lining up for an American license that the officers inside the DMV had to come out and tell the applicants the testing rooms were full, according to the New York Times. The illegal immigrants were told to come back the next day.
On the same day, New Jersey also passed similar legislation. The governor of New Jersey promised he would sign the legislation into law, according to Washington Examiner. The news outlet reported that over 250,000 individuals would be able to get their licenses within the next three years. New Jersey would be the 15th state to allow illegal immigrants to hold driver’s licenses, according to the Washington Examiner.
This law has met some resistance, as some DMV clerks said DMV officers couldn’t determine if the identification provided by illegal immigrants was authentic or fake, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.
“Because of these lax regulations, implementation of the State law at this time would create unacceptable security risks…. loopholes allow for nefarious people to obtain a New York State Standard Driver License, and use it to commit bank fraud; identity theft; credit card fraud; human trafficking, and other criminal activities,” according to some of the clerks, the news outlet reported.
Some of the clerks had filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the law, but a federal judge dismissed it.
