New York State Senate Votes Down Move to Allow Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Workers

Here in New York the State Senate voted Monday to oppose Governor Eliot Spitzer’s September 21st decision to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. The Governor noted the high number of accidents caused by uninsured drivers and described the new policy as a public safety measure that makes licenses and insurance available regardless of immigration status. He called it “a commonsense change that deals practically with the reality that hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants live among us.” Immigrant rights and civil liberties groups welcomed the new policy which reverses former Governor George Pataki’s immigrant exclusion policy

But the change continues to face increasing opposition from Republican and some Democratic lawmakers as well as groups opposed to illegal immigration. Republican State Senator James Tedisco calls the policy “unlawful, risky, reckless, and irresponsible.”

CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has been particularly harsh in his criticism of Governor Spitzer. I want to play excerpts of his recent comments on this issue from his show “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

• CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs on the driver’s license policy change in New York.

Eric Shneiderman is a Democratic State Senator who supports Governor Spitzer’s proposal. He joins me now in the firehouse studio in New York. We are also joined by Amy Sugimori. She is the Executive Director of La Fuente, a New York-based labor collaborative that works with immigrant communities directly affected by the new law.

• Eric Schneiderman. Democratic New York State Senator. He supports the new driver’s license policy.

• Amy Sugimori. Executive director of La Fuente, a New York-based immigrant labor collaborative.

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