Immigration advocates yesterday were feeling betrayed by Gov. Spitzer after it became clear he was backing off his original plan to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
Speakers yesterday gathered outside the governor’s East Side office and vilified him for leaning toward a new three-tier system announced Saturday that would leave the illegal immigrants at the bottom of three options.
Also, Saturday’s announcement said the entire program was being delayed indefinitely – perhaps for as long as a year – instead of kicking off in December as originally planned.
“He’s not honoring the promise he made about getting licenses in December,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. “[He’s] flipping, it’s a 180-degree reversal. Before, he was a politician of integrity, now his integrity is cut to the core.”
Spitzer in recent days began backpedaling from his plan after a revolt among state lawmakers and 20 county clerks who said they would refuse to issue licenses to illegals.
On Saturday, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Spitzer announced a plan with three types of licenses.
The first called for cards stamped “Not for U.S. government purposes” and could not be used to board planes or to enter federal facilities.
A second level, complying with federal REAL ID regulations, would be for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, and could be used on domestic flights and for entry into federal facilities.
The highest level, called an “enhanced driver’s license,” would have a microchip, be for U.S. citizens only, and allow holders to pass into Canada without a passport.
The federal REAL ID program was passed in the wake of 9/11, giving states the right to opt into the system by 2009. But New York won’t until 2013, when it is fully in place, the Spitzer administration has said.
tatiana.deligiannakis@nypost.com