The New York Republican is putting additional pressure on Hochul to repeal the Green Light Act
FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Claudia TenneyRN.Y., introduced a bill that would pull federal highway funding from states like New York that issue driver’s licenses and IDs to illegal immigrants.
Tenney, who co-chaired the House Caucus on Election Integrity in the midst of the 2024 race that ended with President-elect Trump’s victory, reintroduced her bill — called the Red Light Act — at the start of the new Congress.
The proposal says it aims to “deny federal highway funds to states that issue driver’s licenses or identification cards to aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and for other purposes.”
“Our nation is grappling with an unprecedented migrant crisis, but some states, like New York, are encouraging and rewarding criminals with driver’s licenses and IDs,” Tenney said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “In New York, the Green Light Act gave permits to illegal immigrants, allowing these dangerous individuals to freely roam our country, brutally attacking, raping and killing members of our community. In addition, this bill also restricts law enforcement access to DMV records, preventing enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws. This bill ensures that states that refuse to comply with our nation’s immigration policies will not be rewarded with federal funding.”
Rep. Claudia Tenney greets Mike Johnson before he was re-elected Speaker of the House for the 119th Congress, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The Green Light Act, passed by the state legislature in 2019 and signed by former governor Andrew Cuomo, allows New York to issue driver’s licenses to undocumented people. As part of a sanctuary policy designed to block deportations, he also ordered the state Department of Motor Vehicles to withhold records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal law enforcement agencies without a court order or court order signed by a judge for such information.
Law enforcement leaders condemned the law as legislative obstruction.
Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan, a native of upstate New York, floated the idea of blocking vehicles with New York license plates from entering the US from the Canadian border unless the state repeals green light law.
“This is a big priority for me,” Homan told the Buffalo News. “I grew up in New York state, I still own a home in the state. What happens in New York means a lot to me.”
Tom Homan speaks at the National Conservative Conference in Washington, DC on July 8, 2024. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
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“I would find it bizarre that anyone would think that stopping our vehicles from coming in and out of our country, keeping New Yorkers in a foreign country, is a smart way forward,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at an unrelated news conference Monday, responding to Homan’s proposal. “I’d love to sit down and have that conversation.”
Governor Kathy Hochul visits Newsday headquarters on January 22, 2024 in Melville, New York. (Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
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Tenney’s bill would authorize the Secretary of Transportation to withhold 100% of the amount required to be distributed to the state-federal highway system for fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter.
The measure also allows the secretary of state to reallocate funding to states that repeal such laws that grant driver’s licenses or ID cards to aliens who are illegally present in the US
