Driver’s license for undocumented.

On Oct. 28, in Washington a three-tiered structure for driver’s licenses including driver’s license for illegal immigrants was signed off by top state and federal officials. The controversial plan to license the illegal immigrants is led by Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

According to Spitzer, the immigrant licenses would be unusable for boarding planes or would not be recognized as a federal identification and they must prove their state residency and require a passport. However, immigrant rights advocates are already upset with the governor for the two major changes.

Following in the examples of Arizona, Vermont and Washington, New York is the forth state to establish this license option which would allow people to drive into Canada without a passport.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff now seems intrigued with the compromise Spitzer has brought to the table.

Chertoff has already said that he doesn’t like Spitzer’s idea of licensing illegal immigrants; he really can’t do anything about it.

"I don't endorse giving licenses to people who are not here legally, but federal law does allow states to make that choice," Chertoff said.

However Chertoff seemed happy that Spitzer was working on improving his proposal of driver’s license in New York.

Spitzer's move "is a lose-lose political decision that betrays his most ardent supporters and emboldens the anti-immigrant opposition," said Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition.

Immigrant-rights groups said the deal could make it impossible for some to apply.
Republicans see this effort of driver’s license for illegal immigrants as an incentives for immigrants to move to New York and as a way of undermining security, approximately half a million to 1 million illegal immigrants already reside in New York.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-licenses28oct28,1,5543341.story