|
[A state appellate
court has issued a decision in this case -- see note
below.]
A court in New York has issued a temporary restraining
order enjoining the state from refusing to renew the driver’s licenses of
immigrants who (1) do not have Social Security numbers (SSNs) or (2) cannot
prove that they are lawfully present in the United States and have at least one
year of approved stay in the U.S., of which at least six months remain. The
latter lawful presence requirement is known as the “one year/six months policy”
or the Temporary Visitor Program, and it has affected both documented and
undocumented immigrants.
Judge Karen S. Smith of the New York Supreme Court,
County of New York (which is a trial court, not the state’s highest court),
found in her Feb. 17, 2005, ruling that the state apparently had not complied
with the rulemaking requirements of the New York State Administrative Procedures
Act. She ruled that the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable injury if a TRO
were not issued. However, she declined to issue a TRO that would have benefited
persons who had never been issued New York driver’s licenses or who either had
no SSN on record with the Dept. of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or their SSN did not
match the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) records but whose licenses
were not about to expire.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit that resulted in this
ruling have asked for a preliminary injunction enjoining the defendants, New
York Gov. George Pataki and DMV Commissioner Raymond P. Martinez, from revoking
the driver’s licenses or ID cards of individuals whose DMV records lack SSNs or
whose SSNs do not match the SSA’s records. Up to 270,000 people are in danger
of having their driver’s licenses or IDs revoked as a result of the DMV’s Social
Security Number Verification Project. The plaintiffs also have asked that a
preliminary injunction enjoin the defendants from denying or restricting
licenses and IDs based on the immigration status requirements of the Temporary
Visitor Program and from denying licenses and IDs based on a legal presence
requirement or other facts relating to immigration status. A hearing will be
held on Apr. 7, 2005.
For more information about this case, see “Lawsuit
Challenges N.Y. Requirement That License Applicants Present SSN and/or Proof of
Lawful Residence,” Immigrants’ Rights
Update, Sept. 21, 2004, p. 6.[*]
Cubas et al. v.
Pataki et al., No. 04112371
(N.Y. Sup. Ct., filed Aug. 27, 2004)
By Joan Friedland, NILC
immigration policy attorney
* (On July 6, 2006, a New York state
appeals court -- the Appellate Division in Manhattan (First Department)
-- issued a 5-0 ruling reversing Judge Smith's decision. According
to an Associated Press report, "the appeals court said Smith had
erred in barring the identity procedures DMV Commissioner Raymond
Martinez put in place and said they were 'within his authority and
enforceable.'" The Appellate Division's decision is available
here.)
|
