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The Washington Post New Limits On
Licensing Of Immigrants By Nurith C.
Aizenman
The bill, to be introduced at the start of the General Assembly's session this month by Del. Herbert H. McMillan (R-Anne Arundel), comes a year after state lawmakers briefly considered -- but decided against -- extending Maryland licenses to illegal immigrants. Instead, the General Assembly passed an amended version that established a task force to investigate the desirability, feasibility and security implications of the idea. In practice, it is nearly impossible for illegal immigrants to get a Maryland license because the state's Motor Vehicle Administration requires foreign-born applicants to prove their identity with a range of documents that only someone who is in the country legally would have -- such as a passport with a valid immigration stamp. However, no state law specifically bars illegal immigrants from getting a license. And in September the state attorney general issued an opinion stating that the MVA cannot require applicants to prove they are in the country legally as a separate condition of getting a license. The MVA still can require applicants to prove their identity with immigration documents when other satisfactory identification is unavailable, the opinion said. MVA officials argue that the attorney general's opinion supports their current policy. But immigrant advocates contend that the opinion validates their view that the MVA's practice is illegal, and several, including Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery), have spoken of challenging it in court. McMillan said his bill was needed to head off that possibility. "I don't want for those who are in favor of giving illegal aliens licenses to obtain something through the courts that they couldn't obtain in the legislature," he said. Kimberly Propeack, advocacy director at the immigrant-rights group Casa de Maryland, charged that the timing of McMillan's proposal is inappropriate. "The governor [and legislature] have just appointed the task force to study this very issue, so [McMillan's] bill is absolutely premature and dismissive of those efforts," she said. The task force, which held its first meeting in November, is composed of legislators, immigration law experts and representatives of immigrant-rights groups, businesses and state and federal agencies. It is to present its recommendations in December. McMillan countered that the legislation creating the task force was passed before the attorney general's opinion, "and that totally changed the landscape." Ensuring that Maryland driver's licenses remain off-limits to illegal immigrants is necessary, McMillan said, to prevent terrorists from easily obtaining what has in practice become a national identification card. A driver's license allows someone to open bank accounts, cash checks, rent cars and hotel rooms and fly on airplanes. Immigrant advocates maintain that most illegal immigrants are hardworking, otherwise law-abiding residents willing to take low-wage jobs that American workers shun. Allowing them to get licenses would ease the hardship they face while making the roads safer for citizens by increasing the number of motorists who are insured and have passed a driving test. But McMillan disagreed with that prediction. "Why would you assume that illegal immigrants are going to get insurance just because they have a driver's license?" he asked. "They're here illegally, so breaking the law is clearly not a concern to them." McMillan said his measure has about 24 co-sponsors, including Democrats Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr. (Baltimore County) and Del. Rosetta C. Parker (Prince George's). The debate in Maryland mirrors discussions across the nation in recent years, with several states choosing to open driver's licenses to illegal immigrants even as others, including Virginia, have moved to close that possibility. Roughly half the states do not have laws explicitly requiring driver's license applicants to prove that they are in the country legally. Like Maryland, however, many have application policies that make it all but impossible for such immigrants to obtain a driver's license. © 2004 The Washington Post Company |
