Law enforcement call for a red light on Green Light Law

This is the third installment in a series about ... View Part 1 and Part 2 here.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Law enforcement officials in Western New York have no plans to let up on their criticism of a law passed in 2019 that carved out a pathway for undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.

The stickler is that the "Green Light Law" made the Department of Motor Vehicle's database hands off to federal immigration officials without a warrant or court order. Anyone who has access to the database, including local police, cannot share that information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection.

Law enforcement officials who spoke to News 4 Investigates described the database as a starting point for investigations, and that sharing this information with federal immigration officials is critical to keeping New Yorkers safe.

A year later, legislators amended the bill to make it a Class E felony for local police to share immigrants' driver data with either of the two federal agencies.

ICE leaders were insulted that no lawmaker or state agency approached them to get their thoughts on the bill. Instead, they consulted only with law enforcement.

"I sit here looking puzzled, because it just doesn't make sense to me," said Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti. "And really what happened is, New York State is a sanctuary state. So, what they did was implement policies to try to discourage us from working with federal immigration, so that they could bring in as many migrants as they wanted ..."

On the other end, lawmakers who voted for the Green Light Law gave various reasons for their support.

Some Democrats said the legislation would make the roads safer, because some immigrants involved in accidents would flee the scene fearing detention by federal immigration officials.

Others raised concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting targeted raids at worksites and other public places that didn't always lead to many detainments. Immigrants were living in fear of ICE's mission to detain, arrest and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed a crime, have pending charges and those considered high risk, supporters said.

Proponents told stories about immigrants walking to work in the snow to make ends meet, without a vehicle.

There were personal stories about the struggles of being an undocumented immigrant in New York.

Brooklyn-area Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, who came to the United States from Columbia when she was 9 years old, said she remained undocumented in New York for 10 years once her tourist visa expired.

"But later, as I got older and realized the subtle ways that lack of a driver's license ... can impact an entire family, I began to plan -- to emergency plan when I was 13 years old," she said. "My mother could be picked up by ICE at any given moment. Back then it was called INS, and I would be left to care for my sisters and be separated from the only home I ever knew. All because my mother wanted to make sure that she could go to work and I would get a chance to live."

When Cruz publicly told her story, she said she received death threats.

Lawmakers also touted the bill as a boost of revenue by more people paying the fees to obtain a driver's license, with one lawmaker describing those fiscal impacts as "outstanding." They also said the bill would lower car insurance premiums.

But interfere with law enforcement? That is where some Democrats pushed back.

"Let's really talk about what this is really about," said Assemblyman Phil Ramos, a former undercover narcotics officer and detective in Suffolk County. "We know why [there is] resistance. We know what it's about. It's about the people who we are giving licenses to. Just say it. I would respect more if it's just said. Some people don't want immigrants to get licenses. They don't want anything given to immigrants to benefit this segment of the community, because that segment of the community has been demonized, used politically as a weapon to garner votes."

There seems to be no middle road in this debate, and most lawmakers remain unwilling to amend the law as criticism gets louder.

Thomas Brophy, ICE's field office director for enforcement and removal operations, said this smacks in the face of public safety.

"The number one concern is always going to be public safety, and the safety of my staff doing their sworn duty," Brophy said.

The divide

Legislators said coalition members, advocates and legislators all shaped the bill.

The end result was a bill that went further than any other state with similar legislation, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for The Center of Immigration Studies, which researches the impacts of immigration on society.

"It seems to me that the impetus for this law really was a desire on the part of the majority of lawmakers to actually interfere with immigration enforcement," Vaughan said.

How does the legislation impact law enforcement behind the scenes?

"I can give you an example," Filicetti. said. "Down in the Town of Porter, we were seeing, along with border patrol, a significant spike of river crossings. We were getting calls of suspicious people."

Their investigation led them to a few people who had just crossed the Niagara River. By the time they arrived, a vehicle had already picked up the suspects, but police got a license plate number.

"We now know where that vehicle potentially is going," Filicetti said. "I cannot tell border patrol where that car is going for them to be able to go follow-up on a potential immigration investigation. Now, mind you, a lot of people think it's just people coming across that are looking ... to start a new life. We've seen examples right here in our backyard where there's human and sex trafficking going on. So, we need to really determine what people are doing here."

Assemblyman Phil Ramos, a former undercover narcotics officer and detective in Suffolk County, expressed confusion over how the law would impede law enforcement. He said there were other reasons for the criticism.

"I was a cop for 20 years, there is nothing in the world that would help me better than to have somebody have a license," Ramos said, according to the June 2019 Assembly transcript. "You want us to believe that law enforcement would rather have a person be anonymous? That somehow giving them a license is hurting law enforcement? Come on now. This is like -- you know, it's grasping for straws to find a reason not to do this; twisting themselves into a pretzel to find one reason so they can say, I gotcha."

Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes is the only lawmaker in Western New York who voted for the legislation. While her office provided background information, Peoples-Stokes would not agree to an interview.

News 4 Investigates contacted several New York City area lawmakers who voted for the bill, but none could be reached for comment.

The transcripts, however, provide a snapshot of their mindset.

ICE's Brophy said there have been false statements about ICE and what it does.

"Emigrate to the United States lawfully," he said. "Come here, follow the law, don't break it. If you're given the opportunity to reside here permanently, take the opportunity, eventually take the oath, become a citizen. That's what we all want people to do."

Lower insurance premiums?

Despite what lawmakers said, the law did not result in lower car insurance premiums for New Yorkers.

New York still has the highest full-coverage insurance premiums in the nation, more than $1,000 higher than the national average, according to data BankRate provided to News 4 Investigates.

Lawmakers passed legislation in 2022 that further increased premiums for half of the state's licensed drivers, by requiring insurance companies to enroll couples into supplemental spousal liability insurance. Drivers could opt out with a formal letter to the Department of Financial Services, but insurance companies feared customers may not immediately notice the charge or blame them for the increase.

Critics in law enforcement haven't mentioned a peep about car insurance rates or revenue.

Public safety is the concern

Law enforcement officials look back at the 9/11 terrorist attacks to make their point of how local, state, and federal agencies sharing information is critical to public safety.

They're also worried about violent crimes that some immigrants commit, and how the legislation makes their jobs much more difficult.

"You go back to 9/11," Filicetti said. "One of the things that were discovered when they studied how people got into the country illegally, people took flight lessons. What happened was a lot of agencies didn't communicate and they didn't share information. We learned from that, and we're trying to share information, and then New York State, they tell you don't share that."

Jennifer Connor, executive director of Justice for Migrant Families, said supporters did not advocate for the legislation to make the state unsafe. Rather, part of the intent was to prevent ICE from going on "fishing expeditions."

"And I'll take this even further," she said. "We don't want agencies saying, like, 'hey, this guy speaks Spanish, and I don't know, I'm just not sure about him. Let's call ICE. Well, that is racial profiling, so you take this to the end of logic, and that's not where we want to be headed either.”