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Immigration critic Kearns wins award for passport services

WASHINGTON – Erie County Clerk Michael P. Kearns, who has been less than welcoming to undocumented immigrants who want to apply for driver's licenses, won an award from the State Department Monday for helping Americans leave the country.

Kearns, a vehement critic of the state's Green Light law, received the award in recognition of Erie County's "Clerk-on-the-Go" program, which helped people apply for passports at 150 locales last year.

The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs named Kearns' program one of the two "most innovative" passport sign-up efforts among 7,700 passport acceptance facilities nationwide. The passport office at the University of New Mexico received the second innovation award.

At a State Department ceremony, Kearns' program earned the praise of Rachel Arndt, deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services. She noted that the Erie County Clerk's office took its passport services to senior centers, businesses and summertime festivals.

"'Clerk-on-the-Go' has taken public service to a whole new level," Arndt said. "Bravo."

That's rare praise for any county clerk, but especially one such as Kearns, who has garnered public attention mostly through his opposition to the state's controversial Green Light law.

But in an interview before the award ceremony, he stressed that he's done more as clerk than just fight the idea of granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Erie County clerk: 'I will not be granting licenses to illegal immigrants'

"One of the things that was very important to me when I became the county clerk was that we wanted to bring services to the people," Kearns said. "Western New York has many different people who have different cultures, different languages, especially recently with the advent of refugees coming into Buffalo. So what I wanted to do is put a team together that would go out in the community and be proactive."

That's just what Kearns' office did. Kristine Knapp, customer service manager at the State Department's Buffalo Passport Agency, noticed – and nominated the Erie County Clerk's office for the award.

"He has a great, innovative program to get services out to the people and help them get a passport," Knapp said.

Kearns said that's especially important in light of the state's coming implementation of the federal REAL ID law. Beginning Oct. 1, the federal government will require people to have a more high-tech identification card, rather than just a standard New York driver's license, to board domestic flights.

It's possible that some New Yorkers will opt to get a passport – which qualifies as a REAL ID – instead of a REAL ID driver's license or enhanced New York driver's license that would serve the same purpose. In any case, with such a big change coming, Kearns wanted to spread the word to make sure the public would be ready.

"So we really ramped up our passport outreach and made that part of our 'Clerk-on-the-Go' program," he said.

The State Department event was the only thing on Kearns' Washington schedule Monday, but he made clear in the interview that he remains hugely concerned about the Green Light law.

While Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has offered to allow federal agencies to see DMV data without Social Security numbers, the Department of Homeland Security has insisted that the state make those records available in their entirety.

To pressure the state to do so, the Trump administration earlier this month barred New York residents from applying for or renewing their memberships in trusted traveler programs such as NEXUS and Global Entry.

Kearns said the state's refusal to share DMV information poses a public safety risk. What's more, Kearns said he believes the Trump administration might step up its pressure on the state to change the Green Light law, perhaps by ruling that enhanced New York driver's licenses would no longer be accepted identification for crossing the Canadian border.

That, Kearns said, would make his office's passport services even more important – because then New Yorkers would once again be required to have a passport or passport card to cross the border.