Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, speaks during an event at the White House. The | AP Photo / Evan Vucci
ALBANY, NY – Governor Andrew Cuomo alleged that senior Department of Homeland Security officials Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli could be subject to criminal charges for their decision to prevent New Yorkers from enrolling in accelerated border crossing programs.
He also hinted that the decision could be responsible for exacerbating the Covid-19 outbreak in New York.
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“I believe that Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli have criminal responsibility,” the governor said in a briefing on Friday. “I think there is civil liability. There was a clear abuse of power for political ends. ”
The Trump administration blocked New Yorkers from participating in these programs in February, blaming the state’s new law to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. That law prohibits state DMVs from sharing driving records with federal agencies involved in immigration law enforcement, which those agencies said made it impossible to conduct proper background checks.
On Thursday, DHS changed course, saying some changes to the law made in April were good enough to allow New Yorkers to begin re-enrolling in the programs. It later emerged that Justice Department officials had decided to abandon their defense of a lawsuit challenging the restriction after realizing that DHS incorrectly asserted that the state’s information sharing restrictions were unique.
That, Cuomo said, was clear proof that federal officials had been playing politics all along, and it came at the worst possible time.
“Without the trusted traveler program, do you know what happened? The lines at the airports fell back. Do you know when the lines went back at the airport? February and March … That was when the Covid cases came from Europe, “said Cuomo.” And they were playing their games and backed the lines of people waiting to pass customs and border controls. ”
Cuomo asked Attorney General William Barr and Congress to open investigations into DHS actions.
He also said the state would explore taking legal action on its own: “I believe there is civil damages owed to the state of New York and we are going to file possible claims for that.”
