Spitzer scheme a danger to U.S

Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposal to grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens is no more than political pandering to vocal interest groups and cheap labor employers. Moreover, it would endanger the security of all Americans, while adding to the already significant burden that New Yorkers bear as a result of mass illegal immigration, charges Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Spitzer's plan, according to polls, is opposed strongly by a large majority of New Yorkers, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and by many county clerks who run local Department of Motor Vehicles offices.

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"No Americans have suffered more and paid a greater price than the people of New York for lax attention to homeland security," stresses Stein. "All but one of the 9/11 terrorists who killed thousands of Americans--the majority on the southern tip of Manhattan--boarded flights without drawing unwelcome attention by using valid U.S. driver's licenses, Investigators, including the 9/11 Commission, have all concluded that obtaining valid driver's licenses was critical to the terrorists' ability to carry out their mission. If Gov. Spitzer's plan is implemented, future terrorists in need of a valid U.S. identity document will be able to get one simply by proving that they can parallel park."

Stein dismisses Spitzer's contention that giving illegal aliens driver's licenses is necessary to ensure road safety in New York. "Gov. Spitzer's rationalization is essentially the same one Pres. George W. Bush used in seeking amnesty for illegal aliens," explains Stein. "Rather than enforce laws against illegal immigrants, Pres. Bush argued that we must give in to them and grant them legal status. Similarly, rather than enforce laws that New York uses to punish other people for driving without licenses or without auto insurance, Gov. Spitzer is seeking to reward illegal alien scofflaws with the privilege of driving and a U.S. identity document. The American public rejected the idea of amnesty for illegal aliens, and New Yorkers firmly reject the notion of licenses for people who have no right to be in the country."

Issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens is likely to serve as a magnet for illegal aliens. According to a 2006 report by FAIR, the state spends $5,100,000,000 annually to provide education and health care to illegal aliens, as well as to incarcerate those who commit crimes.

"We have seen evidence of illegal aliens leaving states that have elected to enforce laws against illegal immigration in recent years," observes Stein. "If New York begins issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens, we are likely to see the reverse phenomenon as illegal aliens flock to New York. Greater risk to security and even heavier burdens on taxpayers is not most New Yorkers' idea of sound public policy."

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