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• Oct 6, 2007 5:48 am US/Eastern
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  Immigrant Driver's License Plan Meeting Stiff Resistance

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Immigrant Driver's License Plan Meeting Stiff Resistance

Some County Clerks Opt Against Spitzer's Directive

Reporting
Marcia Kramer

New York's county clerks are rebelling against Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but the governor is sticking to his guns.

Red light. Stop sign. Road block. Call it what you will. Some county clerks say they won't give illegal immigrants a driver's license.

"We're afraid about what happened with 9-11," Oneida County Clerk Sandra Deperno said.

There are Department of Motor Vehicles offices in only 12 counties. Everywhere else it's the county clerks who issue driving permits, so their threat not to cooperate is serious.

"We'd rather this population be in the database than out," Michael Balboni, New York State Homeland Security chief.

Balboni said it's a way to keep track of who's here. He also says it helped that 13 of the 9-11 hijackers did have drivers' licenses.

"After the attacks we used those drivers' licenses to find out who these people were," Balboni said. "Put their pictures up and then subsequently do investigations about who else helped them."

Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long is mounting an ad campaign against the plan. The following dialogue comes from a commercial:

"Along the Mexican border we lock up illegal immigrants. In New York, Gov. Spitzer wants to give them driver's licenses.

Long didn't mince words when asked about the controversial issue.

"I think it's insane and I think it's dangerous," Long said.

Long wants the governor to change his mind. New Yorkers are divided.

"I don't think it's a good idea," one person said.

Said another: "Everybody should have a chance."

"It's saying that they belong here and they become legal citizens," said a third.

"It's a free county, right? So they should have a right. Everyone should have a right.

The governor's office says a clerk who refuses to issue a license is violating their oath of office. They can be sued not only by the state but by the person who didn't get the license.

State officials say there's also a road safety issue. They point out that illegal immigrants who drive without legal permits are five times more likely to be involved in fatal accidents.  
 

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