The national debate over immigration reform may be churning on in Washington, D.C., but there's one policy a growing number of states can agree on: driver's licenses for unauthorized immigrants.
Vermont, Connecticut and Colorado passed new laws this month allowing drivers without Social Security numbers to receive licenses or authorization cards. They join Nevada, Maryland, and Oregon, whose governors signed similar laws in May. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn started the trend this year when he signed Senate Bill 957 in January.
The recent wave of state laws reflect an about-face in policy after 9/11, when states tended to enact more restrictive licensing requirements.
In recent years, unauthorized immigrants have been able to receive driver's licenses in Washington state and New Mexico, and in Utah, drivers who cannot "establish legal/lawful presence" have been able to apply for driving privilege cards, according to the Utah Driver License Division's website.
The types of licenses that unauthorized immigrants can receive vary by state. Nevada's law follows Utah's model by only allowing driver's privilege cards. Such limitations prevent unauthorized immigrants from using the cards as valid government-issued identification.
These new state laws show that the public safety argument often cited by immigrant advocates is "starting to carry weight," says Ann Morse, who directs the National Conference of State Legislatures' Immigrant Policy Project.
As The Economist recently reported:
...unlicensed drivers are almost five times more likely to be in a fatal crash. They are also less likely to stay at accident scenes, according to Yale Law School's Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. The costs of accidents involving the uninsured are passed on to other motorists in the form of higher insurance premiums.