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No licenses for illegals
Newark NJ Star Ledger

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Zeneida Rivera's arrest has left a lot of illegal immigrants in a jam. They had counted on her to help them get driver's licenses from Tennessee, where an immigrant does not need to prove he is in this country legally, just claim to be living in Tennessee. Rivera, who sits in a Knoxville prison, was charged by federal authorities with ferrying illegal immigrants from New Jersey and New York to Tennessee to get licenses. We understand why undocumented immigrants would pay up to $1,000 for a two-day trip to Tennessee to get a license. What we don't understand is why Tennessee looks the other way. Only a few states take this loose approach to licenses, but more are expected to do so in the next few years. A new federal law requires states to issues driver's licenses only to those who can prove they're here legally. That same law allows states to offer a second-tier license, a driving certificate. For that, a driver must certify that he lives in a state and produce some form of identification -- a passport, a birth certificate, a consular ID card. Students on visas, business people in the country for a limited time and those fleeing political persecution are likely applicants. And so are illegals. New Jersey has some of the tightest regulations for obtaining a driver's license, but at least one lawmaker -- Assemblyman Brian Stack (D-Hudson) -- is thinking about easing those requirements. Backers of the idea say that regardless of a person's immigration status, it's better to have a motorist who has passed both a written and road test. That does have a certain appeal. Meeting yesterday in Des Moines, Iowa, the nation's governors had another take on the issue. They warned that the new federal law will create long lines at motor vehicle agencies and a possible tripling of fees. Further, they said, the law would turn motor vehicle clerks into immigration officials. Those on the other side of the issue argue logically that the country should not be encouraging illegal immigrants by rewarding them with driver's licenses. We'd like to see a driver's license in the wallet of everyone driving a car, but we have a hard time getting past the idea that if you're here illegally you shouldn't get the rights of those who are here legally. © 2005 The Star Ledger© 2005 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.