Federal Judge Rejects Trump Administration’s Challenge to New York Law That Allows Illegal Immigrants To Obtain Driver’s Licenses

A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s challenge to New York’s Green Light law, which lets illegal immigrants obtain driver’s licenses.The Trump administration sued New York over the law in February. Attorney General Pam Bondi accused the state of prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens.” The federal government said that the law, which restricts the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing address information with immigration officials, violated the supremacy clause of the Constitution. However, a federal district court judge, Anne Nardacci, an appointee of President Biden, said that the Trump administration did not show evidence that the Green Light Law violates the Constitution. She said that attorneys for the federal government did not point to a federal law that requires the DMV to provide information from license applicants to federal immigration authorities.“Plaintiff has failed to plausibly allege that any challenged provision of the Green Light Law unlawfully discriminates against the federal government,” Judge Nardacci wrote in her decision.New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, celebrated the ruling in a post on X, writing, “As I said from the start, our laws protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe. I will always stand up for New Yorkers and the rule of law.”The Green Light Law was passed in 2019, and Democrats at Albany argued it would help improve safety on the roads because they said people were driving without licenses or taking road tests. It also lets illegal immigrants obtain driver’s licenses. The Trump Administration says it is a “frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them.” Besides the restrictions on what information the DMV can provide to immigration officials, attorneys for the federal government also took issue with a provision of the law that requires the commissioner of the DMV to inform illegal immigrants if a federal immigration official requests their information. The Trump administration argued that it would make it easier for immigration officials to do their jobs if they had unrestricted access to license information. However, Judge Nardacci said that the information “remains available to federal immigration authorities” if they obtain a court order or a warrant. The Department of Justice did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Federal Judge Rejects Trump Administration’s Challenge to New York Law That Allows Illegal Immigrants To Obtain Driver’s Licenses

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