Holocaust survivor Laura Siegelman finally getting REAL ID after 4-year ordeal over her name with New York DMV
PLAINVIEW, N.Y. -- A 4-year battle with bureaucracy ended in success for a Holocaust survivor on Long Island who was seeking a REAL ID.
Getting an enhanced driver's license usually takes a trip to the DMV, but Laura Siegelman of Plainview wound up on an odyssey of dead ends.
"My father was in Auschwitz and my mother managed to survive by fleeing from town to town," said Siegelman.
As a toddler, Siegelman was brought to the U.S. Her green card said "Laya," her Yiddish name. Teachers Americanized the name and she became a U.S. citizen.
In the wake of 9/11, now that REAL ID is required for flying, Siegelman's documentation was rejected.
"The green card is too old. I went from Laya to Laura," said Siegelman. "Suddenly, strangely I didn't exist."
Two years ago, federal officials found Siegelman's birth certificate, but wouldn't accept it in German. She paid to have it translated, but said officials just stopped responding to them.
"We never heard from them," said Siegelman. "You can't call them."
Reams of red tape later, Siegelman has a temporary license that will soon be replaced with a REAL ID.
A simple constituent survey sent by their Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz prompted him to meet with the DMV commissioner and present all the documentation.
"Be persistent with your government representatives. Make sure that they hear your story and they your voice and if there is a will, there is a way," said Blumencranz.
"We had assemblymen, congressmen and senators, state senators, for 1,370 days. None of them could get it done. He got it done in 21 days, three weeks," said Richard Siegelman.
"I was erased as a citizen of this country briefly, and then I was recognized again," said Laura Siegelman.
Delays in rolling out the REAL ID are due in part to cases like this one. The Siegelmans say, in a nation of immigrants, there must be some flexibility for law-abiding Americans who have fled war.
A DMV spokesperson said, "The most important thing we do at DMV is to give our customers the best possible service. We are pleased that we were able to make this happen and give her a positive outcome. We take these matters on a case-by-case basis, since each will have its own often unique set of circumstances."