Why N.Y. driver's license plan might make us safer
There are many reasons why, years after 9/11, America remains less prepared than it should be for another catastrophic attack. High among them is our tendency to make homeland security policy, and to evaluate it, on the basis of emotion rather than reason.
The latest example of this tendency is the virulent opposition from anti-immigration activists to a proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who wants to eliminate the requirement for driver's license applicants in that state to have a Social Security card.
To be sure, those of us whose principal concern is security must concede that the activists have a point. The ease with which people can illegally enter this country is a loophole terrorists can exploit to pull off another 9/11. And, so, whatever one's view of whether illegal immigration is a net economic benefit or burden (put me in the "benefit" camp), it is imperative that we finally get serious about policing our borders.
In so doing, though, we have a choice to make. We can either ignore reality and make policy that flies in its face, or we can acknowledge reality and make policy that works around it. The reality is that the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in this country will remain here, still more illegal immigrants are likely to come, and those illegal immigrants who can and wish to drive will do so.
Ways around rules
As far as Social Security cards are concerned, illegal immigrants in New York will either apply for a license with fraudulent ones, or they will drive without a license. If, God forbid, some of those illegal immigrants turn out to be terrorists, we will be unable to identify them.
Those who supplied documentation will likely remain unknown because the information they submitted will be bogus. And those who did not bother to apply will remain completely in the shadows.
Because of the risk of being caught and deported, the number in the latter category is likelier to be far higher than in that in the former.
One of the many lessons of 9/11 is that the more information we have on terrorists, the better. Spitzer's plan would result in our gaining more information because it would encourage illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, and to do so in their own names with bona fide documentation.
Useful personal data
Further, the documentation required would be more useful for security than Social Security numbers. Illegal immigrants would have to submit six kinds of identification, including a foreign passport with photo identification that would be verified by trained staff and state-of-the-art scanning machines. Photo comparison technology would be used to ensure that applicants could not get multiple licenses. Not incidentally, the license available to illegal aliens could not be used to board a plane or cross a border.
Notably, the 9/11 Commission did not recommend that driver's licenses be issued only to people who could prove that they were legally in the USA. Four of the five states that issued licenses to 9/11 hijackers had "immigration status" requirements at the time, and those hijackers were able to prove that they were here legally.
States' Department of Motor Vehicle databases, which contain names, addresses, photographs and driving records, proved invaluable in identifying who the hijackers were and connecting that information to other data that led to a more complete profile of them. Even better than identifying terrorists after the fact, such comprehensive information can even help to prevent attacks.
In short, there is a right way and a wrong way to crack down on illegal immigration. The right way is to be guided by reason rather than emotion. It might make activists feel good to deny driver's licenses to those here illegally. But such a policy will do little, if anything, to get unsafe illegal immigrant drivers off the streets. And, it might make the already difficult job of identifying terrorists even harder.
