It was just last week that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and officials from the Trump administration said they would continue to work toward a compromise to reverse a decision from the federal government to block access for New Yorkers to certain travel programs.
That didn’t last long; a top official from the Trump administration told reporters in the Albany area Thursday that an offer from Cuomo to negotiate on the issue was off the table.
The conflict is over New York’s database at the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The federal government, as of December, no longer has access to that database after the state’s Green Light Law took effect.
That law was approved last year to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses in New York. But that law also prescribed a ban on federal access to the DMV database. Democrats were worried the information would be used to target immigrants.
Cuomo, last week, traveled to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump and offer a compromise. New York would offer access to the database for the federal government on a case-by-case basis, and only for applicants to trusted traveler programs.
That’s what set off the initial disagreement. The Trump administration blocked access to those programs, which allow individuals to more easily re-enter the U.S. after traveling.
Federal officials said, at the time, that it was because they no longer had access to the state’s DMV database and needed that information to vet applicants to the trusted traveler programs. Cuomo’s been skeptical of that claim.
Either way, Cuomo’s officer to provide access to the federal government on a case-by-case was rejected Thursday.
Matthew Albence, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the Trump administration needs full access to the DMV database for purposes of law enforcement. That information is used primarily to identify and locate people, Albence said.
“I don't think we want to compromise on public safety and try to start picking and choosing which victims are worth us going out there to save and which aren't,” Albence said.
He was joined by several other top law enforcement officials, including federal prosecutors from upstate New York and a handful of electeds from the Albany area.
A recurring theme throughout the event was a look-back to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Albence suggested that, without access to the state’s DMV database, it would be difficult to predict and prevent future terror attacks.
“As a 25 year law enforcement professional, it’s unfathomable that information that could be used to prevent crime or a potential terrorist attack is purposely being withheld in this state, the same state that less than 20 years ago suffered the worst terrorist attack on American soil,” Albence said.
Cuomo pushed back on Albence’s comment at a separate press event in New York City Thursday. He said New York won’t give the federal government access to the DMV database, and questioned why they would need it in the first place.
If they’re looking for individuals who’ve committed a crime, that information’s already available through the FBI, Cuomo said.
“They want just undocumented who are living peacefully, have not committed a crime, are not violent, so they can disrupt families, and continue their political jihad, which is what it is,” Cuomo said. “It’s a pure political crusade.”
Albence said the federal government wasn’t planning to use the state’s DMV database to target immigrants for deportation, but conceded that it was the job of his agency, and others, to enforce laws approved by Congress.
“We would use that information just as we always have — to enforce those laws we’re sworn to uphold,” Albence said. “Do some of those laws involve immgriation? Absolutely.”
Democrats in the Legislature haven’t weighed in extensively on whether they would consider reinstating access to the DMV database for federal officials, but it’s unlikely. Lawmakers made a point to include that provision in the law last year.