Giuliani wants Congress to outlaw licenses for illegals
By Jerry Zremski
Updated: 11/07/07 10:32 AM


WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani said today that he asked two members of Congress to introduce legislation that would prevent states from giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Giuliani said his suggestion is aimed at a loophole in current federal law that allows states to give undocumented aliens a kind of driver's license that does not qualify as federal identification.

"I think this is a serious error and Congress should consider closing this loophole," Giuliani said at a press conference at the National Press Club.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is proposing just that kind of license for illegal immigrants as part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that would create other kinds of enhanced driver's licenses to improve security and cross-border traffic for the state's citizens.

But Giuliani said a special license for illegal immigrants is a bad idea.

"It would really seriously obstruct the ability of the federal government to carry out its primary responsibility, which is to enforce our borders," he said.

Giuliani said he called Rep. Peter King of Long Island, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, to suggest the legislation.

Giuliani's comments came a week after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the Democratic presidential front-runner, stumbled over a debate question on the driver's license issue. Clinton's campaign later said she supported Spitzer's license plan.

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