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http://www.tennessean.com/government/archi...ent_ID=50357258
Bredesen: No license for illegal immigrants
This is a sample of the driving certificate proposed for undocumented immigrants.
By HOLLY EDWARDS
Staff Writer
Governor proposes two-tier driving law
Citing homeland security risks posed by the state's driver's license law, Gov. Phil Bredesen yesterday announced he wants to change the law so that only U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents will get state driver's licenses.
Tennessee is one of 10
states that allow an undocumented immigrant to get a driver's license.
However, the governor's proposal would allow undocumented immigrants who can prove their identity and residency in the s
tat
to get a driving certificate stamped ''Not valid for I.D.''
The certifi
cate would ensure that drivers know the rules of the road and are able to get car insurance, governor's office officials said. The certificate would not serve as legal identification required to board airplanes, buy weapons or rent cars, the governor said in a news release.
Those in Tennessee with temporary work or student visas also could get certificates of driving that would expire with their visas.
Supporters of legal residency requirements say allowing an illegal immigrant to get a driver's license provides an easy way for terrorists to get a legal identification card, and encourages people to stay in the country illegally without applying for permission to stay.
Opponents
of the requirement say businesses are eager to hire undocumented workers because they provide cheap labor, so it isn't fair to prohibit the workers from driving to their jobs. They also say t
hat
many
illegal i
mmigrants will drive without licenses if they can't get one, and will then be unaware of the rules
of the road and unable to get insurance.
''If we want to have illegal immigrants leave the state, then quit hiring them,'' said Sen. James Kyle, D-Memphis, who sponsored a 2001 bill that lifted the legal residency requirement. ''We need to address this issue through employment laws as opposed to the road where my wife and children drive.''
States without residency requirements, besides Tennessee, are Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. Several states recently have changed their laws to prohibit illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses, including California, Florida and Illinois.
Officials in those states also cited homeland security as their primary concern.
A bill competing with the governor's is being sponsored by Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro.
It also
would r
equire legal resi
dency to get a license and would make driver's licenses available to those with Social Security cards who are in the country tem
porarily.
The legislature estimates that about 8,000 illegal immigrants per year get a license in the state.
Bredesen's news release stated that his proposal would make Tennessee's the toughest driver's license law in the nation. He said it would close a loophole that allows people with temporary visas to get a driver's license that remains valid even after their visas expire.
Bredesen officials said yesterday that the governor feared that the relatively lax state law could serve as an invitation for illegal immigrants, particularly potential terrorists, to come to Tennessee.
Federal immigration officials said this week
that illegal immigrants come to the state specifically to obtain driver's licenses. Twenty-five immigrants were arrested in a raid at a driving school Thursday.
The governo
r's prop
osal to make permanent re
sidency a requirement to get a driver's license will be included in a previously filed bill creating the certificates of driving.
Ketron's bill is
expected to be heard by the Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The senator said he had some questions about the governor's plan, specifically about the provision that allows noncitizens without visas to get a driving certificate.
''I hope that the Finance Committee will compare both bills and then do what's right for Tennessee,'' he said.
Officials in states that have restricted licenses point out that the hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had driver's licenses.
However, opponents of restrictions point out that some of the hijackers also had student visas th
at would still have allowed them to get licenses, while others had fraudulent licenses.
And some say they're not convinced tougher driver's licens
e laws would sl
ow the tide of i
mmigration into the country.
<
br>''We're inviting illegal aliens into the country through our employment practices,'' said Rodolfo De La Garza, director of research at the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at Columbia Univ
ersity in New York.
''If you want to slow down immigration, fine. Then get employers to raise their salaries so that poorly educated U.S. citizens will be hired. But I don't think companies are going to do that in Tennessee or anywhere else,'' he said in a telephone interview yesterday.
However, others said they believed tighter laws and tighter enforcement of motor-vehicle laws were needed, as well.
''If people are going to drive without licenses, then we need to enforce our traffic laws,'' said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for
the Federation of American Immigration Reform, a conservative watchdog group. ''If people are working and they're not allowed to work, t
he employers are vi
olating the law. And
if we don't enforce our immigration
laws, then people will keep coming.''
Mehlman also said he didn't buy the argument that allowing illegal immigrants to drive would encourage them to get car insurance.
http://www.tennessean.com/government/archi...ent_ID=50357258
Bredesen: No license for illegal immigrants
This is a sample of the driving certificate proposed for undocumented immigrants.
By HOLLY EDWARDS
Staff Writer
Governor proposes two-tier driving law
Citing homeland security risks posed by the state's driver's license law, Gov. Phil Bredesen yesterday announced he wants to change the law so that only U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents will get state driver's licenses.
Tennessee is one of 10
states that allow an undocumented immigrant to get a driver's license.
However, the governor's proposal would allow undocumented immigrants who can prove their identity and residency in the s
tat
to get a driving certificate stamped ''Not valid for I.D.''
The certifi
cate would ensure that drivers know the rules of the road and are able to get car insurance, governor's office officials said. The certificate would not serve as legal identification required to board airplanes, buy weapons or rent cars, the governor said in a news release.
Those in Tennessee with temporary work or student visas also could get certificates of driving that would expire with their visas.
Supporters of legal residency requirements say allowing an illegal immigrant to get a driver's license provides an easy way for terrorists to get a legal identification card, and encourages people to stay in the country illegally without applying for permission to stay.
Opponents
of the requirement say businesses are eager to hire undocumented workers because they provide cheap labor, so it isn't fair to prohibit the workers from driving to their jobs. They also say t
hat
many
illegal i
mmigrants will drive without licenses if they can't get one, and will then be unaware of the rules
of the road and unable to get insurance.
''If we want to have illegal immigrants leave the state, then quit hiring them,'' said Sen. James Kyle, D-Memphis, who sponsored a 2001 bill that lifted the legal residency requirement. ''We need to address this issue through employment laws as opposed to the road where my wife and children drive.''
States without residency requirements, besides Tennessee, are Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. Several states recently have changed their laws to prohibit illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses, including California, Florida and Illinois.
Officials in those states also cited homeland security as their primary concern.
A bill competing with the governor's is being sponsored by Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro.
It also
would r
equire legal resi
dency to get a license and would make driver's licenses available to those with Social Security cards who are in the country tem
porarily.
The legislature estimates that about 8,000 illegal immigrants per year get a license in the state.
Bredesen's news release stated that his proposal would make Tennessee's the toughest driver's license law in the nation. He said it would close a loophole that allows people with temporary visas to get a driver's license that remains valid even after their visas expire.
Bredesen officials said yesterday that the governor feared that the relatively lax state law could serve as an invitation for illegal immigrants, particularly potential terrorists, to come to Tennessee.
Federal immigration officials said this week
that illegal immigrants come to the state specifically to obtain driver's licenses. Twenty-five immigrants were arrested in a raid at a driving school Thursday.
The governo
r's prop
osal to make permanent re
sidency a requirement to get a driver's license will be included in a previously filed bill creating the certificates of driving.
Ketron's bill is
expected to be heard by the Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The senator said he had some questions about the governor's plan, specifically about the provision that allows noncitizens without visas to get a driving certificate.
''I hope that the Finance Committee will compare both bills and then do what's right for Tennessee,'' he said.
Officials in states that have restricted licenses point out that the hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had driver's licenses.
However, opponents of restrictions point out that some of the hijackers also had student visas th
at would still have allowed them to get licenses, while others had fraudulent licenses.
And some say they're not convinced tougher driver's licens
e laws would sl
ow the tide of i
mmigration into the country.
<
br>''We're inviting illegal aliens into the country through our employment practices,'' said Rodolfo De La Garza, director of research at the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at Columbia Univ
ersity in New York.
''If you want to slow down immigration, fine. Then get employers to raise their salaries so that poorly educated U.S. citizens will be hired. But I don't think companies are going to do that in Tennessee or anywhere else,'' he said in a telephone interview yesterday.
However, others said they believed tighter laws and tighter enforcement of motor-vehicle laws were needed, as well.
''If people are going to drive without licenses, then we need to enforce our traffic laws,'' said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for
the Federation of American Immigration Reform, a conservative watchdog group. ''If people are working and they're not allowed to work, t
he employers are vi
olating the law. And
if we don't enforce our immigration
laws, then people will keep coming.''
Mehlman also said he didn't buy the argument that allowing illegal immigrants to drive would encourage them to get car insurance.