Governor Eliot Spitzer Decides to Abandon Driver's Licenses for Illegal Immigrants Plan
Tuesday , November 13, 2007

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to abandon his plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, officials familiar with the decision told The Associated Press Tuesday night.

The governor is due to meet Wednesday morning with New York's congressional delegation, many of whom have openly opposed the program. Debate over the issue has spilled over into the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The governor's office signaled to New York lawmakers Tuesday that the morning of the meeting, he will say he is shelving the plan and that immigration is a federal issue to be handled by Washington, according to congressional aides who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

Last month, Spitzer had sought to salvage the license effort by striking a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to create three separate types of state driver's licenses: one "enhanced" that will be as secure as a passport; a second-tier license good for boarding airplanes; and a third marked not valid for federal purposes that would be available to illegal immigrants and others.

Clinton has been criticized by her Democratic rivals for her non-committal answers on the subject. She has said she sympathizes with governors like Spitzer forced to confront the issue of immigration after the federal government has failed to pass immigration reforms. She has not taken a position on the actual plan offered by Spitzer.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311544,00.html