Thread: What the Driver’s License Debate Ignored

What the Driver’s License Debate Ignored
Governor Spitzer’s plan was another incentive for illegal behavior.
Steven Malanga
19 November 2007
During the debate over Governor Eliot Spitzer’s now-defunct plan to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, most discussion centered on the scheme’s national-security implications. But few people asked an obvious question: Why does New York State, nearly 2,000 miles from the Mexican border, have so many illegals in the first place? Why do undocumented immigrants—whether they come through the Mexican border, by boat from Caribbean islands, or by plane through our airports—bypass so many other states and wind up here?

The answer helps demonstrate why Spitzer’s plan was so wrongheaded. America has an illegal immigration problem largely because we give illegals incentives to come here. Illegal immigrants gain access in the United States to better-paying jobs than they can find at home because we’ve let employers ignore our labor laws and hire undocumented workers. Meanwhile, state and local governments grant illegals taxpayer-funded benefits to which they aren’t entitled. The more privileges we bestow on those who’re here without authorization, the more we induce them to stay—and others to come.

Consider some New York State and New York City policies. Several years ago, the New York City Council held a hearing on the problems of day laborers—illegals who often work “off the booksâ€

Right! "Demagnetize" and they will leave.

[quote]“States have to act when the federal government and the Congress doesn’t act,â€

Politicians at all levels (local, state, federal), community agencies and leaders, Business leaders and corporations, laws enforcement agencies, have all turned a blind eye and ignored the issue until it has expoded in their face. The American Citizen is fed up and outraged! The time has now come to pay the piper!!!