Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., on Friday blasted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s support of a new state law that prohibits immigration agents from accessing motor vehicle records, calling it “the height of arrogance.”
In an interview on Newsmax TV’s “Newsmax Now” program, King weighed in on a Trump administration’s freeze on New Yorkers' access to Global Entry and three other trusted traveler programs that speed their re-entry into the country.
Cuomo, who is fighting the move in court, called the move “extortion,” noting the suspension comes in the wake of a new “Green Light Law” that allows illegal immigrants to get a deriver’s license and prohibits motor vehicles data from being shared with immigration enforcement agencies.
“I mean it's the height of arrogance,” he said, adding, the Democrat-controlled state government is “playing games at the risk of the lives.”
“The governor should have sat down with [the Department of Homeland Security] and say ‘what do you need,” he added. “Instead … they rammed through this legislation.”
About 175,000 New York residents in trusted traveler programs will be kicked out over the course of 2020 as their permits expire under the Department of Homeland Security move, The Associated Press reported.
It also applies to nearly 30,000 commercial truck drivers enrolled in a program that eases their crossing at four U.S.-Canada ports of entry in upstate New York, the AP reported.
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