Immigrants react to Spitzer's reversal on licenses
By LEAH RAE
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: November 15, 2007)
There were plenty of arguments against Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to the undocumented.
Some said illegal immigrants didn't deserve a license, others questioned the logistics of handling an array of foreign documents at the Department of Motor Vehicles. But the biggest sparks in the debate, by far, came from those who said the plan would help terrorists.
"When I hear they think we're all terrorists, I can't believe the mentality some people have," said Gabriela Barrios, a 20-year-old liberal arts student at Westchester Community College. Barrios and her family, originally from Paraguay, are applying for legal residency through her mother's job as a housekeeper, she said. But until the paperwork comes through, assuming it ever does, she has no way to get a license.
"I believe that I could be an asset at some point, but we're all being put into this pile," she said. "And people just assume that we're all here and we're all terrorists, we're here to take other people's jobs, and we're not doing anything for the country."
Spitzer announced in Washington yesterday that he was giving up on his controversial plan, and that he was delivering the underlying issue - illegal immigration - back to the nation's capital.
He had been hammered for two months over a policy change that would let foreign documents be used in the license application in place of a Social Security number. Opposition took the form of lawsuits, a state Senate vote and a refusal by some upstate county clerks to carry out his policy.
In immigrant communities, Spitzer's Sept. 21 announcement of the policy was taken as a dramatic political statement in support of the undocumented. His abrupt change of stance - following dismal poll results - is being taken as a dramatic defeat. His supporters wondered yesterday whether tactics could have made a difference.
"I think he is a hero," said Robin Bikkal, an immigration attorney and chair of the Westchester County Hispanic Advisory Board. "I just don't understand how this was done without more consultation, and more support behind the scenes. It's very painful. It's a disaster."
The September announcement came with so little notice that state legislators were unprepared to take a position or respond to critics, Bikkal said. And advocates had no time to lobby. Two local Democrats, state Sens. Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Yonkers and Jeffrey Klein of the Bronx, were among eight Democrats who voted to overturn the governor's initial policy. Klein later signaled support for the revised plan, which would have set up three tiers of driver's licenses.
"The thing is, I think we could have been leaders in this whole process," Bikkal said. "Now I think everybody's going to be just dug into their positions."
Republicans expressed satisfaction at the governor's decision and admonished him for his single-handed style.
State Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson, said yesterday that the governor's reversal "will hopefully demonstrate to him that he needs to listen first and act afterward."
"There are three branches of government, we do not live in the age of kings, and the executive must work with, and respect, both the Legislature and the judiciary," Leibell said.
The governor intended to change the driver's license policy through internal, procedural changes. On Oct. 29, he revised his initial plan by announcing three new tiers of licenses, only one of them available to illegal immigrants.
Leibell maintained that national security was still at stake.
"The governor's policy was a security threat that was self-imposed upon New York," he said. "It was a shameless attempt to advance a political agenda, thinly veiled as a security enhancement."
Rosa Salgero said she, like many others in Brewster, was looking forward to getting her license in December.
"We have a need to work to maintain our children, our families in our countries. It's sad, you know," said Salgero, 35, who is from Guatemala. "There are people who drive without insurance because they have to work far away. In the end, they lose more because they get caught and go to jail. Not everyone, but some."
For Barrios, the governor's reversal is another letdown after the defeat of federal legislation that would help undocumented high school graduates obtain legal status. It's also a practical matter: Her commute from Ossining takes about 15 minutes by car compared with more than two hours by bus, she said. So she spends all day at campus, from 7:30 a.m. to about 11:30 p.m., because that's when she's able to carpool. Yesterday, she was training to be a mentor for Latina high school students, but wasn't sure whether she could make it to the program's events in Sleepy Hollow.
The independence she was hoping for was crushed, Barrios said.
"I'm constantly depending on other people, other people's schedules," she said. "I'm trying to pursue an education, and one of the things that was going to help me was a license."
