As REAL ID looms, states revise driver's license laws

advocates are pushing for a repeal of the REAL ID Act, saying the license programs for undocumented workers provide public safety because unlicensed drivers usually do not carry auto insurance.

“The most common argument you hear against it is it’s an argument of attrition — if we make their lives miserable, the undocumented will go away,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, director of Voces de la Frontera.

“I think that argument doesn’t stand up to reality when you look at states like California where a majority of undocumented immigrants have had no access to driver’s licenses,” she said. “The undocumented do not go away. The only consequence of those state policies is you have more unlicensed, uninsured drivers on the road because by and large, public transportation is not as convenient as it is in other parts of the world.”

Fox News notes that many states, including Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Hawaii, have repealed laws enabling illegal immigrants to acquire licenses, and experts say harder line approaches toward illegal immigration in Arizona and elsewhere has pushed illegals into states with lower thresholds for enforcement.

Melissa Savage of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said it is possible that some states could begin offering a two-tiered licensing system so illegal immigrants can still have driving privileges.

“If you go back to the core reason for driver’s licenses and making sure people have a record, if that’s a priority, that’s the one reason,” she said.

As for the remaining states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain licenses, all three are working on new legislation.

After a surge in applications from out-of-state illegal immigrants, Washington late last year tightened its requirements for issuing driver’s licenses in an effort to reduce the number of people who acquired them fraudulently. Now, the Democratic-controlled Senate is considering a bill that would require applicants for driver’s licenses to prove they are in the country legally. The bill is under review in the Senate Transportation Committee.

In Utah, which last year became the only state to offer a special class of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, the Republican-controlled Senate is considering a bill that would eliminate the state’s driving privilege card by the end of the year. The card, which doesn’t allow people to board a plane, get a job or buy alcohol, is held by nearly 42,000 illegal immigrants since the statehouse established the option six years ago largely to provide a way for non-citizens to obtain auto insurance.

In the Democratic-controlled New Mexico Legislature, a House committee last week rejected, on a party-line vote, a bill that would have allowed illegal immigrants to have annually renewable driving permits, which would not serve as a form of identification. Democrats on the committee supported the effort to shelve the bill, effectively dooming it for the session.

New Mexico Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who did not support the bill, said she wants legislation that would stop the licensing practice and cancel more than 80,000 licenses given by the state to foreign nationals. The state contends it doesn’t know how many of the licenses have gone to illegal immigrants because it does not ask the immigration status of license applicants.