New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday accused the Trump administration of “political exploitation” for blocking New Yorkers’ participation in the Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) over the controversial Green Light Act, and called for investigations into the matter a day after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) removed the ban.
“It has been six months since this political exploitation of New York began. It’s been six months since they clearly had no basis to do this, “Cuomo said at a press conference.
DHS RAISES NEW YORK’S PROHIBITION TO TRUST TRAVELER PROGRAM AFTER STATE AMENDS GREEN LIGHT CONTROVERSIAL LAW
The agency announced Thursday that it would drop restrictions imposed on TTP for New Yorkers in February by the state’s controversial Green Light Act after it said a crucial change to the law had been made.
That law allows illegal immigrants in New York to obtain driver’s licenses. But as part of that law, it also prohibited the exchange of information between the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and federal immigration officials. Officials had claimed that the law was unique to similar laws in other states, but New York officials accused the government of political motivation to impose the ban only on New Yorkers.
On Thursday, DHS said in a statement that a change to the law made in the New York budget in April, which allowed DMVs to share data for the purpose of enrolling in the TTP, allowed the agency to lift the ban.
But Cuomo on Thursday pointed to court filings in a lawsuit over the ban, in which government attorneys admitted that other states and territories had capped the exchange of information as part of similar laws.
“The defendants deeply regret the above inaccurate or misleading statements and apologize to the court and the plaintiffs for the need to make these corrections at this late stage of the litigation,” said Audrey Strauss, the United States Acting Prosecutor in Manhattan. , according to The New York. Times.
Cuomo said Friday that he had told Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Assistant Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, at a White House meeting in February, that he would amend the law to allow the exchange of information for the purpose of TTP, and had repeatedly stated that other states had similar restrictions
Therefore, he concluded that the Trump administration was using DHS as a political tool.
CUOMO SAYS TRUMP TOLD HIM THAT FEDS WOULD NOT DEPLOY TO NYC
“It is illegal what they did and I believe it violates Acting Secretary Wolf and Acting Deputy Cuccinelli … they violated his oath,” he said. “Nowhere in his office oath does he say he can use government resources to advance for political ends.”
“I think that Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli have a possible criminal responsibility, I think there is civil responsibility, I think it was a clear abuse of power for political purposes,” he said.
He then requested an investigation by the Justice Department, and also that the state would seek civil damages.
“You know this agency played politics, you know they lied, they admitted they lied, can you allow this blatant and heinous misconduct not to be investigated?” I ask.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
He also called on Democrats in the House of Representatives to conduct an investigation into the matter, calling it “one of the barrage of political abuse” that New York has faced by the federal government.
Meanwhile, Wolf, in Thursday’s statement, indicated that the federal government would continue its opposition to the law.
“The Green Light Act ultimately undermines law enforcement efforts, criminalizing their mission to protect the nation and the American people from threats and increasing the risk to their own lives,” he said. “When jurisdictions like New York do not cooperate with federal authorities, they operate more as refugees from criminal behavior, not as shelters.”
