Pros And Cons Of NYS Green Light Law Passionately Expressed
By Doug La Rocque
The Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Matthew T. Albence held a press conference at the Rensselaer County Jail on Thursday, February 21, to rail against New York State’s Green Light Law, and the problems and dangers he perceives it to present for law enforcement in general. The law, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo last year, prevents ICE and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection from accessing all NYS Department of Motor Vehicle Information (DMV).
Mr. Albence was joined by a multitude of area law enforcement officials, and was hosted by Rensselaer County Sheriff Pat Russo. Noticeably missing were any representatives of the New York State Police, who many of the law enforcement officials said supported their stand, but were precluded from attending the conference by the Governor.
The Acting Director told the gathered media, which included the national Spanish Language network Telemundo, that “by restricting access to all DMV information, the Green Light Law stands as a dangerous and unnecessary roadblock to ongoing federal investigations into a broad range of criminal activity, and a severe impediment to our officers and agents in the field. ICE is not asking the State of New York to provide a list of illegal aliens, or to identify which individuals in its date base are here illegally.” Mr. Albence also said “our ability to identify and dismantle transnational criminal organizations-whether they are flooding our communities with killer drugs like fentanyl and meth, trafficking weapons, peddling sensitive military technology, or selling women and children into miserable lives of sexual servitude-depends on getting the right piece of information into the right hands at the right time. And often, that piece of information is as simple as a license plate, an address or a photograph.
The press release handed out at the conference, indicated ICE had made 3,764 arrests in New York during 2019, which included 130 homicides, 600 sexual offenses, 450 weapons charges, 280 robberies, 1,200 assaults and 1,650 DWIs.
Mr. Albence was at times very passionate in his opposition to the law, calling it “a pre-9/11 mentality in a post-9/11 world. In regards to what he calls one of the law’s most inherent problems, “short of taking our guns away, I can think of nothing more dangerous for my agents.”
Besides law enforcement, several other local officials also spoke against the law. Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin labeled it as “insane” He also said Governor Cuomo has made a big mistake and needs to step back, demanding the Governor “fix it, fix it now.”
Small In Number But Loud None The Less
Outside the county law enforcement building and jail, a small crowd of protestors, numbering less than 30, gathered to support the Green Light Law, and accuse ICE of using information in the DMV date base to round up hundreds of what they labeled as undocumented aliens, to deport and/or separate children from their families, housing them in cages. Several held signs calling for the abolishment of ICE, one labeling the agency as the Gestapo.
Three sheriff’s deputies stood in front of the entrance, as the protestors demanded to be let into the press conference. As the conference started, the protesters started to bang on the windows of the conference room, attempting to disrupt the gathering. They were quickly removed by law enforcement.