Despite the fact that more than 50 percent of New York state citizens are against giving illegal aliens driver's licenses, the leftist legislature and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo forced the new law known as the "Green Light Bill" onto the Empire State late last night.
Supporters of the law say that it will give illegal aliens economic opportunity by offering them the chance to legally obtain a driver's license and, therefore, open up new job possibilities. Opponents rebuked this claim saying that this would be nothing more than the first step towards citizenship after breaking American law and entering the country illegally.
"Just like their new law giving free taxpayer-funded college tuition assistance to illegal immigrants, providing driver's licenses to those here illegally creates a strong disincentive for anyone to ever follow our nation's immigration laws," Republican state senator Fred Akshar said in a press release ahead of the vote on the Green Light Bill. It "also leaves hardworking, law abiding New Yorkers footing the bill," he added.
"New York would have the most radical, open-ended such law in the entire nation," which could increase the potential for voter fraud, Akshar continued. "Another major concern is that many states, including New York, use their DMVs to enroll voters. Since New York doesn’t have voter identification laws like the majority of other states do, this bill could also increase the potential for voter fraud."
For a moment, it appeared that Gov. Cuomo would not sign the law because he was worried that giving driver's licenses to people wrongfully in the country would assist the federal government in doing its job and kicking these illegal aliens out of the United States.
"You could create a database for the feds to use to actually track down undocumented people,” Cuomo said on WAMC radio, according to the New York Post. “California passed a law, and they are now in litigation.”
The controversial law will go into place in 180 days.