“I adamantly oppose Governor Spitzer’s move to reverse a policy - originally put in place as a safeguard post 9/11 - requiring state driver license applicants to show Social Security numbers as proof of residency. This action provides an opportunity for illegal immigrants to easily obtain a driver license; with terrorism as part of today’s reality, this can be especially dangerous and pose a direct threat to homeland security. Many of the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attack used false information to obtain driver licenses that allowed them to move about our country freely and to rent vehicles and board aircraft used in the plot against us. Allowing such a policy to take effect is a surefire way to, once again, place ourselves in danger and provide terrorists with an opportunity to inflict potentially catastrophic damage on our soil.

Rather than implementing “open door” policies for illegal immigrants, the Governor should work together with my colleagues and I to address more immediate concerns, such as lower taxes and job creation, which would benefit legal residents. If anything, he should be supporting anti-terrorism initiatives such as the one that I will be introducing that will require local police departments to notify the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in instances where an arrested individual’s residency status cannot be verified.

I strongly believe that in regards to the Governor’s reversal on the driver license policy, this change in DMV policy weakens our national security and puts the lives of New Yorkers in great peril.”