FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., introduced a bill that would pull federal highway funding from states such as New York that issue driver's licenses and identification cards to illegal immigrants.
Tenney, who co-chaired the House Election Integrity Caucus amid the 2024 race that ended in President-elect Trump's victory, re-introduced her bill – named the Red Light Act – at the start of the new Congress.
The proposal says it aims to "withhold federal highway funds from States that provide drivers licenses or identification cards to aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States, and for other purposes."
"Our nation is grappling with an unprecedented migrant crisis, yet some states, like New York, are incentivizing and rewarding criminals with driver's licenses and identification cards," Tenney said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "In New York, the Green Light Law has given licenses to illegal immigrants, allowing these dangerous individuals to roam freely in our country, brutally attacking, raping, and murdering members of our community. In addition, this law also restricts law enforcement from accessing DMV records, preventing the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws. This legislation ensures states that refuse to comply with our nation's immigration policies are not rewarded with federal funding."
Passed by the state legislature in 2019 and signed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Green Light Law allows New York to issue driver's licenses to undocumented individuals. As part of a sanctuary policy intended to block deportations, it also directed the state Department of Motor Vehicles to withhold records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal law enforcement without a court order or judicial warrant signed by a judge for such information.
Law enforcement leaders have blasted the law as legislating 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 U.S. from the Canadian border if the state does not repeal the Green Light Law.
"To me, this is a high priority," 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."
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"That would be bizarre to me that anyone thinks that stopping our vehicles from coming in and out of our country, keeping New Yorkers in a foreign country, is a smart path forward," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at an unrelated press conference on Monday, responding to Homan's proposal. "I'd like to sit down and have that conversation."
Tenney's bill would grant the secretary of transportation authority to withhold 100% of the amount required to be apportioned to a state's federal highway system for fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year afterward.
The measure also allows the secretary to reapportion the funding to states that repeal any such laws that provide driver's licenses or identification cards to aliens who are unlawfully present in the U.S.
