Illegal immigrants: Should they get driver’s licenses?

The nation’s hate-filled immigration debate has just claimed another casualty, said Juan Gonzalez in the New York Daily News. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer recently set off an uproar by announcing that his state would permit illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. His reasoning was sound: With an estimated 1 million undocumented people in New York state, it’s clear that many of them are already driving without licenses or insurance, and bringing them into the system would make the roads safer and enable more immigrants to hold down regular jobs. Eight states already issue driver’s licenses to the undocumented. But when the anti-immigrant crowd created a predictable backlash, said The New York Times in an editorial, Spitzer caved. He said that illegals would instead be offered a separate but unequal license that would not be valid as a form of identification. Come, now. Who would register for a license that makes you a target for any official who wants to start a purge of illegals?

You mean any official who wants to enforce the law? said Diana West in The Washington Times. The issue is simple: If a person is living here illegally, government policy should be geared toward deporting them, not making their stay more comfortable. Before he had to backpedal, Spitzer insisted he was only being practical, since the illegal immigrants are already here. But we are a nation of laws. When ‘practical’ is a euphemism for ‘lawless,’ chaos is sure to follow. And just think of the national-security implications, said James Staudenraus in the Albany Times Union. Driver’s licenses function as America’s de facto national ID card. They are used to board airplanes, rent cars, open bank accounts, and gain entry to government buildings—all of which terrorists know all too well. It’s hard to imagine a policy change that could inflict more harm.

But for a moment, consider the immigration problem from the states’ perspective, said Lawrence Levy in Newsday. Like other state and local leaders around the country, Spitzer is facing a dilemma caused by the total failure of federal immigration policy. There are 12 million illegals in our midst, and Congress is completely stalemated about how to deal with them. That forces the states to improvise. Even if you understandably can’t countenance the idea of undocumented immigrants being allowed to drive, they are driving. With licenses, at least they must prove they know the rules of the road and have insurance. The get-tough crowd won this round, but I don’t feel any safer. Do you?

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