March 10, 2019. This article discusses the support by many high raking individuals who support allowing all New Yorkers access to driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, including the Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and the Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. The author highlights that the licenses for undocumented immigrants will help the police identify who they pull over and that the program would generate revenue for the state. The author goes on to note that people in opposition to the bill argue that undocumented immigrants will try to use licenses to obtain citizenship but Senator Luis Sepulveda assured that the licenses will only allow driving.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said Saturday that she supports granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, becoming the second city prosecutor to back the measure.
Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez has also supported the bill.
“Government should encourage people to comply, rather than standing back and hoping people violate the law so they can be arrested,” she said at an Albany Conference.
Clark insists law enforcement would benefit by being able to identify whom they pull over.
The measure would generate $57 million in license and registration fees annually from an 265,000 additional drivers, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.
To read the full article in the New York Post, click here.