License Denials for Immigrants Are Blocked

NEW YORK (By Nina Bernstein, NYTimes) February 18, 2004 - A judge ordered yesterday that the state stop taking away the driver's licenses of immigrants in New York who do not have Social Security cards, saying that the Department of Motor Vehicles is not authorized to enforce immigration law or to make new rules without public notice.

The department began a license crackdown last year that was expected to cost the licenses of 300,000 immigrants in New York this year and has already led to the suspension of about 7,000 licenses.

The order by Justice Karen Black of State Supreme Court in Manhattan was temporary, but lawyers on both sides said it reflected her preliminary opinion that immigrant drivers would suffer irreparable harm unless the crackdown was stopped while the court considers a class-action lawsuit brought on their behalf, and that the immigrants' suit was likely to prevail.

It was filed last summer against Gov. George E. Pataki and Raymond Martinez, the motor vehicles commissioner, by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. It was brought on behalf of New Yorkers who have been denied a driver's license or identity card for lack of a verifiable Social Security number or an immigration document satisfactory to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"We think this is a clear victory for the immigrant community, that they are entitled to the same licenses as any other resident of the state," said Foster S. Maer, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs. "The court found that the state can't just arbitrarily cut off the driver's licenses for the immigrants of the state. They had done it secretly without any notice."

Elizabeth Forman, an assistant state attorney general representing the government, said no decision had been made about whether to appeal the order, which temporarily bars the state from denying the renewal of licenses because of immigration status, but does not affect its handling of new license applications.

The judge's order also requires the state to give the plaintiffs 48 hours' notice before sending out letters suspending the licenses of tens of thousands of other drivers. As a practical matter, no more suspensions are likely to occur until after the next court date, a hearing April 7 on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction.

Among those who sued the state are a 60-year-old licensed asbestos remover who worked in the World Trade Center cleanup, a teenage refugee from Albania, and the Irish father of an American-born infant who needs to be driven to medical treatment for her seizures.

Most are in the country without legal authorization, the court papers say, but two who are in the United States legally also were denied licenses by clerks without notice or chance for redress, the lawsuit said.

New York is among a dozen states that by law do not limit driver's licenses to legal residents. In the mid-1990's, to improve child-support enforcement, New York, like most states, added a requirement that applicants provide a Social Security number.

Then two years ago, the state began requiring an original Social Security card for new license applicants, and last year began warning drivers that it would rescind the licenses for drivers who supplied a number that did not match Social Security records. State officials said the actions were taken to combat fraud and terrorism.

The actions were not explicitly authorized by the Legislature, a point stressed by the plaintiffs.

Two of the plaintiffs have a legal right to live and work in the United States, but even their status was insufficient to satisfy the state. Maria Cubas, 42, a Honduran factory worker who lives in the Bronx, is allowed to stay and work in the United States under temporary protected status granted after a hurricane. But Ms. Cubas was denied a learner's permit because her work authorization's expiration date left her two days short of the six months' validity the Department of Motor Vehicles now requires, although that document will be automatically renewed.

The court decision comes days after the House of Representatives passed a bill that would block states from granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. That bill is on a fast track to a vote in the Senate early next month, when its sponsors have vowed to attach it to an appropriations bill. It has considerable opposition, however.

A spokesman said the Department of Motor Vehicles had not reviewed the judge's decision yet and might not comment, since the matter is in litigation.