North Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York State Senator Rob Ortt was joined by Assemblymembers Angelo Morinello and Paul Bologna to address the dangers of the Green Light Law and their efforts to repeal it.
Ortt explains that the Green Light Law, which allows undocumented migrants to obtain driver's licenses puts law enforcement at risk.
"The most dangerous thing a law enforcement officer does, at any level, is a traffic stop. To pull someone over and not be able to know who's in that vehicle, who it's registered to, you're taking away an awareness, and you're increasing a blind spot for a law enforcement officer who now has to get out of their vehicle and go into a situation that they know nothing about that individual or who that car is owned by," stated Ortt.
Ortt vows that restoring laws that give our law enforcement the tools and resources to rein in undocumented immigration will be a top priority this legislative session. He says there's two bills that will be reintroduced.
"Laken's Law would override a 2017, executive order from then Governor Cuomo, who handcuffed federal law enforcement, including ICE from working with state and local partners when it comes to dealing with suspected illegal immigrants. And Senate Bill 2147, Assembly Bill 5145, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Dan Sec, who represents the north country. Under Green Light Federal Law, State and local law enforcement are not allowed to coordinate their efforts in addressing illegal northern border crossings. This bill would repeal the green light law and would restore cooperation between all levels of law enforcement agencies. I'm a co-sponsor of both of those bills, working to end New York sanctuary status with withholding funds from sanctuary cities and prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds and taxpayer funded programs to benefit those who are in this country illegally," stated Ortt.
Assemblyman Paul Bologna says Green Light Law has validated many of the concerns that residents and local law enforcement agencies have.
"New York State should promote the sharing of resources and information between law enforcement agencies at all levels of government to ensure public safety," stated Bologna.
Morinello says the Green Light Law is especially concerning for him because his district sees the most illegal crossing from Canada.
"Last winter, we ran into anonymous cars parked in houses that law enforcement, our sheriff's department, our local police knew were on vacation or they were snow birds. The federal authorities could not check that license plate to see whether or not it was local. It was something strange, but they had no authority to stop, no authority to look, and if they had called the local sheriffs or the local police, they would have committed a felony just by trying to protect that particular piece of property. What would happen is there would be arrangements for cars to pick up the illegals coming over from Canada, either on the river or the lake, and these are the automobiles that were being spotted, but nothing could have been done about it," stated Morinello.