Spitzer's sit-down with members of the Independent Press Association at his Third Avenue office was a bid for support for his proposal to change the way New York state treats undocumented immigrant drivers. In the room were representatives from the Chinese language World Journal, the Polish daily Nowy Dziennik, and representatives of publications that deliver news in Korean, Urdu, Spanish and other languages.
Friday's session with Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David Paterson was initially billed as "on background," but as the assembled press nibbled on the yummy macadamia nut and macaroon cookies that had been provided, Spitzer's press aides offered an on-the-record session in addition to the background chit-chat that, in theory, gives reporters a sense of what important people are really thinking.
Back in September, Spitzer made good on a campaign pledge and moved to allow undocumented immigrants to get the same drivers licenses as everyone else. That infuriated immigration hardliners and spurred a revolt by many of the state's county clerks. It also created potential conflicts between New York's proposed license and the federal Real ID law, the post-9/11 measure that requires states to issue secure identification by 2013.
After talks with Homeland Security, the Spitzer administration late last month shifted to a plan that includes three licenses: a Real ID available to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, a specific border-crossing license for folks who frequent the Canadian frontier, and a standard drivers license that anyone—including undocumented immigrants who possess a foreign passport—can get. To distinguish the standard license from the Real ID, the license will declare that it is not valid as federal identification. In an editorial, the New York Times said Spitzer had "confronted the most intense public criticism of his political career — and caved," and immigrant advocates chafed at the idea of a Scarlet Letter license for the undocumented.
"Most of the people are under the impression that this new policy is sort of a trap," said Mohsin Zaheer, editor of the Sada-e Pakistan weekly, who attended the event. People fear "that those who apply for [the license] will be caught in the trap by federal authorities who are desperate to find undocumented immigrants, especially in the Muslim community," Zaheer said in an interview Monday.
Spitzer said Friday that many people with legal status will go for the un-Real ID license, too. With 35 percent of New Yorkers holding a passport that they can use as their Real ID, he argues, many native-born Americans will opt for the driver's license rather than the costlier and harder to obtain Real ID. That assumes that people will be willing to carry their passport whenever they fly domestically or enter a federal facility. But Spitzer and his homeland security czar Michael Balboni insist they will both get a drivers license, not the Real ID.
