Spitzer retreats on driver licenses for illegal immigrants

New York governor Eliot Spitzer retreated from his plan to permit illegal immigrants to obtain the same kind of driver’s licenses as other New Yorkers, drawing angry reactions from civil liberties advocates and immigrant groups. The governor has been under fierce assault from conservative groups and others since proposing last month to allow illegal immigrants to get regular New York driver’s licenses. The governor is now offering a starkly different version of his plan. The New York Times’s Ray Rivera reports that the new plan calls for separate tiers of licenses. New Yorkers who could provide stringent proof of legal residency could get the new federally recognized license known as Real ID. The licenses available to illegal residents would not serve as federal identification. ”The separate licenses could also serve as an invitation for law enforcement to arrest anyone carrying one on immigration charges,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. She added that the new proposal could send illegal immigrants further into the shadows, compelling them to drive with forged or no licenses and without insurance.

Real ID is expected to be phased in by 2013. After that, federal agencies which now allow standard state-issued licenses for identification will require the Real ID-compatible or other federally accepted identification, like a passport, for boarding a plane, opening a bank account, or entering a federal building. Lawmakers in several states have opposed the legislation, saying it would be costly to implement