N.Y. Drops Illegal Immigrant License Plan

N.Y. Drops Illegal Immigrant License Plan

Gov. Spitzer Abandons Plan To Give Illegal Immigrants Some Form Of Documentation

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2007
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said overwhelming public opposition led to his decision. (AP)

(CBS/AP) New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday he was abandoning a plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but said that the federal government had "lost control" of its borders and left states to deal with the consequences.

"I have concluded that New York state cannot successfully address this problem on its own," Spitzer said at a news conference, flanked by members of the state's Congressional delegation.

Spitzer said overwhelming public opposition led to his decision.

The governor introduced the plan with the goal of increased security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring immigrants "out of the shadows." Opponents charged Spitzer would make it easier for would-be terrorists to get identification, and make the country less safe. Many New Yorkers agreed with them.

Debate over the issue spilled over into the presidential campaign after Clinton stumbled at a Democratic presidential candidate debate in her response to a question about the plan for illegals in the state she represents.

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.

Sen. 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 because the federal government has failed to pass immigration reforms. She has not taken a position on the actual plan offered by Spitzer.

All these pansy-ass politicians hedging their bets. Jeez, grow a set and take a position and stick to it. If it's a bad call, then your ass goes down in flames. Almost sounds like real life.

I might actually have to give credit to Spitzer, though, for pulling his head out long enough to realize that his constituents think he came up with a very, very bad idea.

I liked him better when he was standing up to the RIAA.

:popcorn:

I'm glad they've axed it. It seems like it would be a slap in the face to everybody who actually spent the time to get here legally. I can see it from the idea of, you'd give them a license for the sake of improving safety, but honestly I'd rather that they just get busted for driving without a license and get sent back home.

Damn......the poor illegals aren't even safe in the liberal states. :bananasmi

As usual waffling/flip-flop Hillary. :runaround:

Thing is though, there are already 7 states that offer licenses to illegals, so this is not a new concept as many people think. I actually liked other parts of his plan, which was a three-tiered system. One of the tiers would create another type of drivers license available in certain areas of NY that would allow passage to and from Canada, and would be an alternative document to a passport, ( this would not have been made available to illegal aliens.) This would be perfect for me and my family in case we wanted to take a drive for the day over the border. Passports are expensive, and we don't plan on going anywhere else out of the country so it could be quite an expense for a family to obtain passports if they only needed them once every few years.Other states that border Canada either already have some sort of special license like that otr there is legislation in the works to put one in place.

Good point on the passports Tom because it takes up to 4 months to get them plus the cost has gone way up. Sooner or later maybe sometime in 2008 we will all need passports to cross back into the U.S. by auto. Passports for air travel is already required to get back into the U.S. Going over to Mexico or Canada is the easy part. The question I would have is how much would a program proposed by Spitzer cost the taxpayers?

Also, from experience living on the U.S./Mexico border will these illegal immigrants have auto insurance? Good way to drive up your already high auto insurance especially in New York state which is about the nation's highest in cost next to New Jersey.

I guess I'm one of those slippery slope guys. All it looks like to me is one step closer to amnesty. I can agree that it might be a little myopic to think like that, but I'm really sick of ulterior motives and end runs around existing immigration laws.

I can't disagree with the multi tiered concept, but I'm opposed to including ilegal aliens in it. If they insist on coming here, and the government is determined to keep looking the other way, then they can continue to live a shadow existence as far as I'm concerned. They are NOT entitled to the same privileges legal citizens are.

Plus, we're probably looking at the law of unintended consequences; why would illegal aliens show up at a government office and officially register their presence here, allowing us to track them? I also don't think anyone believes they'll automatically go out and buy auto insurance and comply with all other existing laws.

The question I would have is how much would a program proposed by Spitzer cost the taxpayers?
If you are referring to the licenses which are similar to the passports , allowing travel between NY and Canada, I heard in the news that it wasn't going to cost much more than out present driver's licenses which are roughly $40 to $45 and good for 8 years,( I last renewed mine back in 2001 and that was the going rate- someone correct me on the price if it has gone up in the last 6 years.)In regards to the overall cost to implement the plan as proposed by Spitzer, I'm not sure of the total cost to taxpayers. And since I'm against giving illegal aliens driver's licenses I really wasn't paying attention to any reports by the media on total costs.

Also, from experience living on the U.S./Mexico border will these illegal immigrants have auto insurance? Good way to drive up your already high auto insurance especially in New York state which is about the nation's highest in cost next to New Jersey.
To add to that I wonder about the other states that already have provisions in place to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Has any studies or reports been done to document auto insurance rates before and after the issuance of drivers licenses to the illegals? That would be interesting to look at the results.