By Georgina Brennan

Newfound hopes that driver’s licenses would be reinstated to undocumented immigrants after the New York State Assembly ruled to grant them, were dashed last week when New York Court Appellate Division in Manhattan reversed a decision made last year preventing the Department of Motor Vehicles from requiring proof of legal residency for a New York State license.

Last year in a case brought against the DMV by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), who among others were representing an Irish immigrant with an ill child whose license had been revoked, Judge Karen Smith ruled that the DMV had no right to ask immigrants for a Social Security number before giving them a drivers license.

DMV Commissioner Raymond Martinez in 2004 started a crackdown to eliminate identity fraud and deadbeat dads evading payments. The crackdown sent thousands of letters to license holders with unmatchable Social Security numbers asking them to verify them or have their license suspended.

Many undocumented immigrants, including an estimated 2,000 Irish, who had no Social Security number, were faced with either a suspended license or the inability to renew it. The crackdown brought the PRLDEF into court saying the DMV had no jurisdiction over immigrant issues.

After Smith’s ruling, many undocumented immigrants tried to get their licenses but were met by a temporary injunction by the DMV. Last Thursday in a 5-0 ruling, the Appellate Court said the DMV is entitled to require immigrants to prove they are legal residents before giving them licenses.

Part of the record in the court was evidence that one Social Security number was used to get licenses for 57 people and evidence that a taxi driver used two numbers to get two different licenses and avoid traffic tickets.

The DMV say the measures were to combat fraud and were not a specific attack on undocumented immigrants. But because so many have been caught up in the crackdown and forced to stop driving PRLDEF lawyer Foster Maer told reporters there will be an appeal of the decision.