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New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s
announcement yesterday that he will rescind his proposal to grant
driver’s licenses to all New York residents, regardless of their
immigration status, represents a sad triumph of politics over rational
public policy. Denying driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants will
not make us safer and will not fix our broken immigration system.
Governor Spitzer had it right the first
time. Allowing immigrants to obtain licenses would have saved lives by
ensuring that law enforcement officials know who they are dealing with
in an emergency, and would have saved money by reducing the number of
uninsured drivers and, thus, hit-and-run accidents. Security experts
have confirmed that it is counterproductive to deny identification
documents to undocumented immigrants.
Although the opposition to Spitzer’s policy
was motivated in part by frustration with our flawed immigration system,
fear-mongering also played a big role. It is a shame that this rhetoric
prevailed over a common-sense approach to making all New Yorkers safer.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Tyler Moran, employment policy director | 208-333-1424
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