Come Sunday, some Wisconsin bureaucrats will feel relief. This is a good sign.

The bureaucrats, who work for the state Motor Vehicles Division, are relieved they won't be helping to break the law. Until now, they've been unwillingly doing that, providing driver's licenses, a basis for a legally documented American life, to people here illegally. State law says the agency can't deny a license to someone for being an illegal immigrant, say officials. That ends Sunday.

Wisconsin is one of 10 states that doesn't require proof of lawful presence, as it's known. This has meant that illegal immigrants came here to get a license they couldn't get in Illinois, Minnesota or elsewhere. That's fraud. Gary Guenther, who oversees the DMV's field services, says the agency took steps to cut down on it, investigating addresses and changing procedures. But Sunday's change, ending our status as the Island of Easy Licenses, will do much more, he says.

Topics:  Illegal Immigration, Motor Vehicles Division, DMV, driver's licenses, fraud, social security number, Wisconsin

Mar 27, 2007
by Patrick McIlheran
JSOnline

Then you've got people who genuinely do live in Wisconsin but are illegal immigrants. That the agency had to give them licenses anyhow, helping them stay, grated on some people, including some DMV employees.

Ex-employee Lee Steines said it bothered him enough that he quit his customer service job at the agency a year ago. The question, he said, was, "Am I going to do this, or am I going to face myself in the mirror in the morning?"

He and other agents said they knew they were licensing illegal immigrants. Often, it was when they'd ask the customer for a Social Security number, something the state long has done. There's a form for applicants without one, mainly to handle religious objections. But Steines says he had applicants tell him they didn't have a number because they were in the U.S. illegally. Other agency employees have related similar stories. There wasn't anything they could do.

"It just wasn't right," Steines says. "And people knew in their hearts it wasn't right."

Steines doesn't fault the agency, limited by law and its state mandate. As Guenther puts it, "We have to operate in a way that supports the laws." His staff is good at spotting fake documents, he says, and it can decipher foreign-language birth certificates. But until Sunday, the agency doesn't have the authority to say no to someone in the U.S. illegally.

That's what changes: Along with proof of one's birth date, name, identity and Wisconsin home, the state will require proof an applicant's here legally.

Guenther is careful to note the change has pluses and minuses. It all serves a good purpose, he says. "You have to protect the integrity of the product" - the license.

This is not to say that most illegal immigrants are getting a Wisconsin license to cause trouble. They're doing it to drive to work. They broke U.S. law in coming here not because they wanted to be criminals but because they were looking for a better life.

But the better life is reflected in a pay stub with a Social Security number on it that isn't theirs. Steines says applicants would tell agents that. The pay stub that proved their Wisconsin residency bore a number that would come up invalid if checked. Whatever the intentions, illegal immigration involves fraud.

Protesters marched last weekend in Madison against the new rules, saying they'll "marginalize" people. Being here illegally already did that. If anything, the explosion in illegal immigration threatens the welcome we extend to legal immigrants.

In lieu of persuading Americans to change our immigration laws, the advocates of illegal immigrants demand we ignore the distinction between legal and illegal immigration. They demand we accept that illegal immigrants will drive no matter what, so we might as well give them IDs.

That's not right. More immigration would be good for America if it's handled properly. Accepting people who sneak in or who overstay visas while millions around the world wait a decade or more to get in the legal way doesn't seem to be a good way of handling it.

Telling state employees that they must, by law, ignore the fact a license applicant is here unlawfully isn't right, either. It shows contempt for law and for those who take it seriously. That this comes to an end on Sunday is good.