It doesn’t look like any action was taken during, or immediately following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday.
The two met over the suspension of the Trusted Traveler Program.
Late-Thursday, Governor Cuomo’s communication director issued the following statement:
“Governor Cuomo met with President Trump today to discuss the situation and the dire need to rectify it. Governor Cuomo restated the initial solution that he proposed to the DHS Acting Secretary last Thursday on our willingness to allow federal officials access to DMV records only for individuals applying to the Trusted Traveler Program.
As the Governor previously said, we believe DHS’s action was politically motivated and unwarranted as the FBI already has information regarding criminal records and TTP applicants already go through an extensive federal background check. The President said that this is an issue he wants to work on and that he would follow up with the Governor next week.”
The entire scuffle, which spilled over onto social media last weekend, dates back to New York’s adoption of the Green Light Law, which allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently suspended Trusted Traveler programs in New York. It’s estimated that about 175,000 New York residents will lose Trusted Traveler access in 2020 if something doesn’t change.
Congressman Tom Reed (R-23) who has been an outspoken critic of Governor Cuomo and the Green Light Law noted in a conference call earlier this week that 15 states have enacted similar laws. However, Reed contends that “New York went even further than states like California” by restricting access to Department of Motor Vehicles records with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol authorities.
“We are the only state in the union out there restricting information to our customs and border agents,” he added. “That is why the New York action was taken. That is why it is only New York.”
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