Driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants getting closer to reality in New York

ALBANY – Hundreds of activists and immigrants from across New York traveled to Albany on Tuesday to call on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmaker to allow driver's licenses for immigrants in the country without legal permission.

The New York Immigration Coalition, an organization pushing for immigrants' rights, rallied outside the Capitol and in a nearby theater, urging Cuomo and the Legislature to take up the measure as part of the state budget, which is due March 31.

The bill, which was first proposed more than a decade ago, has been consistently stymied in Albany, dating back to then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's ill-fated push for it in 2007. 

But immigrants and some lawmakers are hoping this is the year it will be passed, boosted by a newly Democratic Senate and Cuomo's pledge to sign it should lawmakers approve.

Those who rallied Tuesday made clear they intend to hold Cuomo to that promise.

"Cuomo!" they chanted in Spanish. "Listen up! We're fighting!"

Where is it allowed?

Twelve states plus Washington, D.C., allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, including California and Connecticut, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In New York, Spitzer attempted to garner support for the measure 12 years ago, but he withdrew the plan amid opposition from county clerks and prominent Democrats.

Since then, more Democrats have come on board with the plan, including Cuomo, whose office signaled his support earlier this year.

The party also took control of the state Senate this year, removing the last remaining public obstacle to the plan.

Some activists, however, have been skeptical of Cuomo's support and have urged him to push for the measure in state budget negotiations, where he has considerable leverage over the Legislature.

The bill would allow the state Department of Motor Vehicles to accept a passport or other form of foreign identification as an acceptable form of ID accompanying an application for a driver's license.

Several undocumented immigrants spoke at the rally Tuesday, detailing the hardships they've faced without the legal ability to drive.

They included Victor Cortez, a Rochester-area man who was injured on the job and had to wait a day before he could find someone to get him to a doctor for treatment. 

"We as farmworkers, and those of us who work on dairies work in really rural areas where there's no public transit," Cortez, of farmworkers' group Alianza Agricola, said through an interpreter.

"The rides are very expensive. Imagine us working 12 hours a day, earning minimum wage, sometimes just $100, and the rides end up being really expensive, like $50."

Will it happen and when?

Whether the measure will get consideration as part of state budget negotiations is uncertain.

Cuomo and top lawmakers are negotiating a $175 billion spending plan for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which begins April 1.

About 265,000 undocumented immigrants statewide would obtain driver’s licenses, including 64,000 north of New York City and 51,000 on Long Island, according to a report last month from the Fiscal Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. 

The group estimated the state would get about $57 million in annual revenue and $27 million in one-time revenue from immigrants getting driver’s licenses, new cars and registrations, as well as paying sales and gas taxes.

Republican lawmakers have been outspoken about the proposal, arguing that driver's licenses should be reserved only for those who came to New York legally.

In January, the Legislature approved a bill making the children of undocumented immigrants eligible for state-level college tuition aid in New York. 

"Today, it’s college tuition," Ortt said at the time. "Tomorrow, it’s driver’s licenses. And one day, it will be voting rights. And those are all things that I find not only abhorrent, but actually are meant to undermine federal law.”

Immigrants speak out

Immigrants in Albany on Tuesday said they are simply looking for the legal ability to get around, particularly in the state's more rural areas.

Luis Jiminez, an undocumented immigrant living in Livingston County, said not having a driver's license has kept him from meeting basic needs like going to the store or doctor's appointments.

"It's a right that we have as people, first of all — the right to be able to freely move in order to meet our daily needs," he said through an interpreter.

Among those who spoke at the rally were Renata Saldaña, an 18-year-old high school senior in Garrison, Putnam County, who read a poem.

"Now, we fight for those who come and we thank those for those who have already been," said Saldaña, who came to the country from Ecuador in 2017. "Don't stop raising your voice for all of those who flee."

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JCAMPBELL1@gannett.com