Andrew Cuomo | AP Photo Cuomo ups license data offer to feds, but won’t provide Social Security numbers

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’s now willing to give the federal government the entirety of the state’s DMV database, except for a field that includes drivers’ Social Security numbers.

“I would give them anything but the Social Security numbers,” the governor said on WAMC this morning. “The Social Security numbers are the indicator of documented or undocumented, and I will never give them the Social Security numbers in the DMV database — over my dead body will I do that. Because that’s why ICE wants it … I’ll give them anything else. They can have the DMV database — just not with the Social Security numbers.”


The federal government has been blocking New Yorkers from enrolling in trusted traveler programs in response to the state’s new law letting undocumented immigrants obtain drivers licenses, which prohibits federal immigration agencies from accessing the DMV database.

Cuomo said on the radio that his pitch has been his offer “since day one,” but at least in terms of what he’s said publicly, it’s a significant increase in what he’s putting on the table. On multiple occasions since last week, the governor has said he’s open to letting the federal government access DMV data for only a small subset of New Yorkers.

“I will give you access to a TTP enrollee on a case by case basis,” he said on WAMC last Wednesday. “You want to look at our DMV database for TTP enrollees, fine, because a TTP enrollee is going to sit with the federal government anyway to do an interview.”