Driving certificates better alternative than licenses
The first hurdle that’s difficult to overcome is the fact our state leaders have extended legal driving privileges to people who are in this country illegally. That concept in itself is not easy to accept.
The reasoning, however, isn’t so far-fetched if you buy into the logic of the Tennessee Department of Safety. Officials there are rightfully concerned with making our roads, highways and interstates as safe as possible.
Operating under that philosophy, safety officials are convinced it’s best to have all drivers familiar with the rules of the road. The best way to accomplish that goal, they say, is to issue legal driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants because those people are going to get behind the wheel one way or another. Since their driving in inevitable, so the reasoning goes, they should at the very least pass a basic driving course.
It’s with that in mind, the Tennessee General Assembly permitted illegal immigrants to obtain legal licenses. It was a move done with good intentions, but it’s a move that also creates an undesirable result: In obtaining their driver’s licenses, illegal aliens also receive a widely accepted form of identification.
Think about it. When we have to show ID to a police officer or to write a check, we whip out our driver’s license. Merely having a driver’s license gives the impression one is a legal resident. Tennessee is one of only 10 states which does this.
That’s why a recent proposal by Gov. Phil Bredesen makes sense. It’s a compromise of sorts.
Bredesen’s plan would still allow illegal aliens to obtain driving privileges with what he is calling a driving certificate. This certificate has the person’s picture and address, but it also has boldly printed down the left-hand side the words, “Not valid for I.D.”
Those words are crucial in this day when we can never be too careful about security. It’s been pointed out the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks had driver’s licenses. They were all allowed to board commercial airlines and carry out the most deadly act of terrorism on U.S. soil.
By offering driving certificates – not driver’s licenses – this would prevent individuals from renting cars or booking commercial flights, two privileges which require positive ID.
It all boils down to protecting the safety of Tennesseans and all Americans. We want our roadways to be safe, and we also demand our society be as safe from terrorist threats as possible. That means we don’t need to be in the business of handing out a legal ID – a driver’s license – to people who aren’t even legal residents of this state.
No matter what road safety concerns are raised, that logic doesn’t make sense.