License to Break the Law

A constitutional crisis of some kind may be coming soon to New York State as the great majority of county clerks have voted to defy Governor Spitzer's order to issue drivers' licenses to undocumented immigrants who present valid passports from their home countries. The clerks believe that the new policy rewards illegal aliens and might facilitate terrorist infiltration. The governor insists that the policy is necessary to ensure safe roads, since otherwise, he asserts, the aliens will drive without licenses or car insurance. He addresses concerns about homeland security by noting that applicants will be put on a database that will prove handy to law enforcement. Here's a summary of the current situation from one of my local TV stations.

I've seen the press release Spitzer issued after the clerks took action. The stunning thing about the document is the governor's complete refusal to address the issue of illegal immigration. As far as he's concerned, this is all about auto safety and his version of homeland security. Sadly, some Republicans went overboard about the possibility of terrorists' exploiting the new policy, and that gave Spitzer an opening to keep the issue on that topic. On the question of whether undocumented applicants are criminals, this erstwhile super-prosecution apparently could not care less. I can't help but read this as an expression of contempt for his constituents. For them, the real issue is whether illegals should be "rewarded" with licenses to drive on New York roads. Perhaps Mr. Spitzer considers that a primitive, provincial prejudice, but as long as this country and the 50 states constitute a democratic republic, it is the people's right to set rules allowing or forbidding newcomers to enter the country. If Spitzer wants to tell us that we're wrong, that we should think differently about the undocumented, let him use his bully pulpit to talk honestly on the subject. This is no longer a question of safety on the roads. It's a question of the rule of law and the rule of the people, which ought to be one and the same thing.

My latest diary at Daily Kos also addresses this subject. It ought to be interesting to see how committed liberal Democrats respond.