BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - County attorneys representing Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns and attorneys from the New York State Attorney General's Office are playing the waiting game when it comes to a decision on whether or not New York's Green Light Law will take effect.
A judge on Wednesday did not rule on a motion for a preliminary injunction which would prevent the law to give illegal aliens the ability to obtain a driver's license in New York from taking effect. Instead, a judge will make a decision on the case sometime in November.
The law is supposed to take effect on December 14.
"We knew when we filed this paper that this was not going to be a sprint, it's going to be a marathon," Kearns said. "Whatever decision is rendered, we will continue to fight and continue to make sure that we are doing the proper thing because we are in conflict and that's what I believe."
Kearns filed the lawsuit against the state, Governor Cuomo, and DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder over the summer because of a scenario which was described as him being caught "between a rock and a hard place." If Kearns gives an undocumented immigrant a driver's license, he believes he is susceptible for prosecution at the federal level for harboring illegal aliens. However, if Kearns refuses to give illegals a license, he faces removal from his office Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Assistant Attorney General Linda Fang argued on behalf of the state, saying Kearns has no standing and would not be implicated by prosecutors. Fang argued that it's an "imaginary" concern by Kearns, though she did acknowledge that there is a conflict between state and federal law.
When asked by WBEN if Kearns has been threatened with prosecution or removal from office, Assistant County Attorney Ken Kirby said no entity has a reason to approach the clerk based on the current system.
"It just is premature," Kirby said.
Meghan Maloney De Zaldivar from the New York Immigration Coalition was among the close to dozen activists who were in the federal courtroom following the oral arguments in the case. Her group was among those who pushed for the law to pass in Albany over the summer because of the belief that the law makes the roads safer.
She described Kearns' lawsuit as "frivolous" and "politically motivated".
"We know that this law will stand up as constitutional," she said.
But when asked if she is sympathetic to Kearns' concern of prosecution or removal from office, Maloney De Zaldivar said New York is in the business of ensuring roads are safe.
"We know these concerns they are bringing up are federal immigration issues that the federal authorities are dealing with," she said. "It is not something that is a purview of the New York State DMV's."
Kearns denied this, saying the clerk's office works with people including refugees who come to Erie County.
