STATEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL ANDREW M. CUOMO
The State of New York has determined that they will no longer require
applicants for driver’s licenses who do not have Social Security
numbers to provide a letter from the Social Security Administration
proving their ineligibility for those numbers. Legal challenges to this
policy change have been commenced. We are defending these challenges and
believe we will be successful. Our position is that this change will be
found to be within the authority of the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.
This is not about whether Social Security Numbers (SSN) will be
required – they never were and they are still not. Instead, the
statute requires people who have SSNs to provide them. The change is
only about what documentation has to be provided by people who do not
have SSNs. Formerly, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) required
such people to prove their SSN ineligibility with Federal government
documents that could not be obtained by an undocumented immigrant. Now,
an applicant will prove SSN ineligibility by affirming – under penalty
of perjury – that they have no SSN, that they are ineligible for one,
and provide the DMV with identity documents, including a current and
valid foreign passport, that support that status.
The State has determined that there are significant policy concerns
which are advanced by this policy change. Enhanced safety on the
State’s roads and reduction of automobile insurance costs are
important considerations that the State believes will be promoted by
these changes.
New York statutes give the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles the authority
to determine what documents he will accept from applicants for
driver’s licenses as proof of identity, age, fitness and SSN
ineligibility. The prior Commissioner determined that, as proof of SSN
ineligibility, he would only accept a Social Security Administration
letter of ineligibility with underlying documentation from the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We successfully defended that
decision in the Court of Appeals (Cubas v. Martinez, 8 N.Y.3d 611
(2007)).
In order to defend that prior practice, we argued that the requirement
of American documents was not aimed at excluding undocumented aliens or
otherwise enforcing the immigration laws, but rather it was aimed at
providing the Commissioner with verifiable documents to guard against
fraud. We presented that argument to the courts through the affidavits
of DMV officials and the majority of the Court of Appeals accepted it.
It is doubtful that the prior practice would have been upheld if the
Court had thought that the DMV was trying to enforce the federal
immigration laws.
The current DMV Commissioner has determined that he has the ability to
verify certain foreign source documents, such as foreign passports, and
he will therefore not limit applicants seeking to prove SSN
ineligibility to providing Social Security Administration letters with
DHS documentation. We will equally defend that decision in the courts of
this State.