Eliot Spitzer Drivers License Controversy - First and Second Plans

First and Second Plans

Applicants for driver's licenses would not be required to prove legal immigration status and would be allowed to present a foreign passport as identification. At that point, eight other states did not require individuals to prove their legal immigration status when applying for a driver's licenses. Spitzer said that the new policy would help all New Yorkers by improving traffic safety, because unlicensed drivers are nearly five times as likely to be in fatal car crashes compared to licensed drivers. Spitzer also claimed that the policy would effectively allow illegal immigrants to buy auto insurance, which would reduce the number of uninsured drivers in the state and therefore decrease insurance premiums for all New Yorkers by an estimated $120 million.

After meeting with the Department of Homeland Security in October 2007, Spitzer agreed that licenses issued to illegal aliens would look different from other licenses and that the new licenses would not allow access to airplanes and federal buildings.

Applicants for driver's licenses would not be required to prove legal immigration status and would be allowed to present a foreign passport as identification. After meeting with the Department of Homeland Security in October 2007, Spitzer altered the plan so that licenses issued to illegal aliens would look different from other licenses and that the new licenses would not allow access to airplanes and federal buildings.