February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Both are likely to be victims of a “data cleanup” initiated by the State of New York Department of Motor Vehicles that aims to suspend any driver whose social security number is not in accord with records at Social Security Administration.
“There was no lead-up to it,” Sean said. “Somebody at work mentioned that he got a letter. And when I went home, I had a letter too.” The 15-day period he was given to respond to the DMV is almost up. “I’ll sit it out, but I expect to get another letter suspending my license,” he said.
For immigrant communities, this is one more unfortunate consequence of the post-Sept. 11, 2001 world, which poses particular problems for the undocumented among them. Most gave a “dodgy” social security number, to use Sean’s word, when they applied for their driver’s license, though the other documents they submitted were legitimate.
Assemblyman Jos