Here & There Column 10-30-07

Coffee Klatsch Debates Spitzer's License Plan

The Coffee Klatsch is back from their summer vacations and with a touch of the fall air along with our pots of fresh-ground brewed coffee and home made donuts we settled down last week for an interesting conversation about Governor Eliot Spitzers's controversial plan to issue drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants.
We looked at the information made available to us which states that state law requires people seeking a drivers license to present a Social Security card.
Gov. Spitzer has said that he can start a new policy in December without the state legislature's approval which makes it easier for illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses.
One of our coffee klatsch members pointed out that legal immigrants already can get a license with a letter from the Social Security Administration confirming their legal residence.
Now the governor's policy, which does not need legislative approval, says that all immigrants regardless of legal status will be eligible for a drivers' license starting in April 2008.
Following the second pot of Java and home made donuts one in our group of seven felt very strongly about this move by the governor and said very bluntly, it's very unfair for county clerks in New York State to require residents to produce a Social Security card and illegal immigrants will not have to."
Several comments made by coffee klatsch members said the attempt to change the policy on illegal immigrants was unconstitutional.
Several members of our klatsch indicated that the governor's proposal might be worth while because the governor stresses, in the state's interest to invite illegals into the DMV, not keep them out and by doing this is gets them into the system, weeds out at least some of those who aren't fit to drive and gives the state something to revoke if they drive intoxicated or otherwise abuse the privilege. It also encourages those drivers to carry insurance and to report accidents they may be involved in rather than hit and run for feat of being caught without a license.
Several in our group said the governor's proposal would make us all safer and could cost us less money because proof of identity would still be required and that instead of a Social Security number it could be a valid passport from any nation and that this proposal also includes stepped-up efforts to prevent fraud and to double-check documents presented with license applications, recognizing that what ever document the state requires can fall victim to forgery.
Our coffee klatsch discussed the fact that highway safety is primarily a state function and states issue driver's licenses to people who prove they can safely and knowledgeably operate a motor vehicle, or to those who can produce a valid driver's license from another recognized jurisdiction.
Governor Spitzer has pointed out that the new state rules will give illegal immigrants an opportunity to get a driver's license without a Social Security number, but not without meeting the same driver safety criteria that all the rest of us must satisfy.
County clerks in New York State, who are charges with giving drivers' licenses, have come out in opposing the governors' proposal and have said they will appeal to federal officials to have the plan overturned.
Two members of our klatsch said discussions they had with regional county clerks indicate that the governor wants them to lighten their policy and that the clerks want to ask the federal Department of Homeland Security if the governors' plan violates a federal law prohibiting people from aiding illegal immigrants or encouraging them to stay in the United States.
We found this topic very interesting....we will have to see where this leads us.