New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the bill into law June 18, but acknowledged it would face legal hurdles.

The legislation, known as the Green Light Bill, expands access to driver’s licenses to an estimated 265,000 undocumented New Yorkers

Senator Luis Sepúlveda, the bill’s sponsor, said immigrants were “the backbone of this state and country.”

The legislation, known as the Green Light Bill, expands access to driver’s licenses to an estimated 265,000 undocumented New Yorkers. Supporters say it will create safer roads, increase state revenue and keep families together by preventing traffic violations from turning into deportations. 

But it faced opposition from within the party as well. The chairman of the New York State Democratic Party, Jay Jacobs, said he warned Long Island’s Democratic senators earlier this month against supporting the Green Light Bill because of potential political consequences, Gothamist reported.

Indeed, even before the so-called Green Light bill came to a vote, opponents had promised a political price. Last week, the National Republican Congressional Committee criticized Representatives Max Rose, Antonio Delgado and Sean Patrick Maloney, all Democrats of New York, for not denouncing the state’s driver’s license proposal. 

Several county clerks, who issue driver’s licenses in New York, also denounced the bill, with at least one vowing to defy it if it became law.

But others offered impassioned defenses of the rights of the estimated 940,000 undocumented immigrants in New York, the third-largest population in the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit group.

The GOP House members, including Rep. John Katko, also asked Barr to consider supporting a lawsuit in federal court to stop the law from being implemented.

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-Long Island, led the letter, which was also signed by Katko, R-Camillus, and GOP Reps. Peter King, Chris Collins, Elise Stefanik and Tom Reed.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the bill into law June 18, but acknowledged it would face legal hurdles.

Before signing, Cuomo asked state lawyers to make sure the state Department of Motor Vehicles could legally withhold from the federal government records with data about undocumented immigrants. The governor said President Donald Trump’s administration could try to obtain the information to identify people it wants to deport.