Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would give the federal government access to the entirety of the states Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database, except for Social Security numbers.
“I would give them anything but the Social Security numbers,” the governor said during an interview with the WAMC radio station on Friday.
“The Social Security numbers are the indicator of documented or undocumented, and I will never give them the Social Security numbers in the DMV database—over my dead body will I do that.”
The new offer comes after an apparent stalemate in negotiations between New York state and the Trump administration, which banned New Yorkers from trusted traveler programs earlier this month because state officials stopped sharing information from the DMV with immigration enforcement agencies.
“We no longer have access to make sure that they meet those program requirements, so we need to do our job,” acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf said during an appearance on Fox News, saying thats why New York residents cant join or stay in the programs.
The decision to block access to the DMV database was part of a recent law that New York passed. Another part of the law lets illegal immigrants apply for drivers licenses.
Cuomos previous offer, according to his public comments, was to let the federal government access the DMV database “on a case by case basis” and only for people who enroll in trusted traveler programs (TTP).
“You want to look at our DMV database for TTP enrollees, fine, because a TTP enrollee is going to sit with the federal government anyway to do an interview,” he said on the radio last week.
Cuomo, Wolf, and President Donald Trump met on Feb. 13 after New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the Trump administration over the ban.
Wolf said the meeting was “productive” but that no agreement was reached while Cuomo said that he “restated my initial solution: NY is willing to provide DMV records for NYers applying to TTP.”
“Hes open to working with us on this and well continue the conversation in the coming week,” Cuomo stated.
Cuomo and other state officials have claimed the administrations move was a form of political retribution for the policies theyve enacted. But some state and local officials are also pushing for a reversal of the baRead More – Source
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The Epoch Times
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