New York Governor Eliot Spitzer finally raised the white flag today on his controversial plan to allow undocumented aliens to get a driver's license, which he had argued would not only have made the roads safer, but have lowered insurance costs as well. The knee jerk hostility against immigration in general overwhelmed any intelligent discussion of his claim that there would be fewer uninsured drivers--a debatable point about which insurers were silent.
Newsday ran an article in its Oct. 23 edition (click here for the full story), which concluded that in two states that have made drivers' licenses more readily available to undocumented immigrants recently, "the numbers of uninsured drivers have dropped sharply, but the results are mixed when it comes to safer roadways."
Newsday reported a decline in fatal accident rates in Utah and a drop in uninsured motorists in both Utah and New Mexico--which both recently made Social Security numbers optional when applying for a driver's license.
New Mexico, Newsday noted, "went from having one of the worst rates for uninsured motorists in the country, at 33 percent of all its drivers in 2003, to a rate of 11 percent, which falls below the national average of 14 percent, according to officials there." (New York stands at 7 percent, the fourth-lowest in the nation, Newsday reported, in case you are interested.)
Newsday noted that six other states--Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon and Washington--don't require Social Security numbers for drivers' licenses.
"In those six states, the picture is mixed regarding uninsured motorists, according to 2004 statistics from the Insurance Research Council, a trade group near Philadelphia," Newsday noted. "Four fall below the national average of 15 percent, with Maine the lowest in the nation at 4 percent. Next is Maryland at 12 percent, Oregon at 12 percent and Hawaii at 13 percent. Two rank above the national average, with Michigan at 17 percent and Washington at 18 percent."
However, even if New York had somehow gone forward with its controversial plan, and if it had indeed done the trick by getting more immigrants insured, it's still not clear that savings to legal residents would have made much difference--certainly not enough to swing the political tide in Gov. Spitzer's favor.
"While the governor has emphasized that drivers statewide would save $120 million under his plan," Newsday reported, "actual savings from the highly debated policy change would be modest for most New York drivers, with reductions of $10 to $20 a year on average annual premiums of $1,000, according to data from the New York State Insurance Department."
Such small potatoes would never overcome the stark terror too many Americans feel at the sight of anyone they think might not be from this country. It's a shame we didn't get a chance to debate the merits of the proposal before it was shouted down by the frightened masses.
Gov. Spitzer tried to save his proposal by coming back with a revised, three-tier plan, with those unable to produce the proper documentation eligible to get a much devalued license, but one which would at least have provided some documentation and helped make sure everyone actually driving was in fact insured.
But that scheme was doomed as well, not only because the overwhelming majority didn't want illegal immigrants to get any form of license, but also because what illegal immigrant would want such a document--one which would certainly be a red flag for Homeland Security officials?
So illegal immigrants will continue to drive without the proper training or required license or insurance coverage, hoping an inadvertent fender-bender or missing a red light or stop sign doesn't get them pulled over by police--and, most likely, handed over to federal immigration authorities for possible deportation.
What it won't do is stop many illegal aliens from driving, that's for sure.
What do you folks think about all this?
Comments (10)
I don't think I have ever been as disappointed in a politician as the situation with Gov. Spitzer. In spite of his crusade against the insurance industry, I still really thought he would get some good things accomplished.
Instead he has lost all his political capital in record time, and will spend the rest of his (most likely) first and only term trying to do damage control.
Posted by Aaron Stein | November 15, 2007 10:39 AM
Posted on November 15, 2007 10:39
I do not believe that licensing illegal aliens will have much impact on uninsured mototists in New York.
The rate of uninsured in New York is relatively low without this proposed plan (7 percent). This is primarily due to the aggressive program already in place to identify uninsured vehicles registered in New York.
The Insurance Information Enforcement System has performed very well in electronically matching insurance coverage data with DMV registration data.
As long as the operator (illegal or legal; licensed or unlicensed) has permission to use the insured vehicle, there will be liability coverage for its use.
Posted by Dan Corbin | November 15, 2007 10:46 AM
Posted on November 15, 2007 10:46
There is not a "knee jerk reaction to immigration." There is strong negative reaction to illegal immigration and to the failure of government at all levels to do anything about it, oftentimes for cynical political reasons.
I am and always have been for a strong, well-reasoned, positive and orderly immigration policy. We have none of this as our political class (as usual) gets it wrong.
Your failure to note the vast, essential differences bewteen legal and illegal immigration does a disservice to your fellow citizens, who are not as you describe them in your dismissive manner.
SAM RESPONDS:
I didn't mean to be "dismissive." But our immigration policies are so screwed up that we end up cutting off our noses to spite Uncle Sam's face. We need more immigration, not less, with the lower birth rates we are posting and the looming labor shortage to replace aging baby boomers and better balance the Social Security and Medicare scales.
As for this particular debate, we also need licensed, insured drivers on the road, which is why I thought Gov. Spitzer's plan deserved a more intelligent debate than the hysterical shouting match it devolved into.
Much of that is Gov. Spitzer's own fault, I understand. Once again, he tried to bully his policy through, rather than be more pragmatic and political. He is in fact the most unskilled politician I have ever seen in high office, although I appreciate his impatience for reform.
Posted by M. Gregorio | November 15, 2007 10:55 AM
Posted on November 15, 2007 10:55
If we want our legal citizens and immigrants to be law-abiding, then we should not "wink" at law-breakers (illegal immigrants) by legitimizing them with a driver's license simply to put $10 or $20 into a insurance buyer's pocket.
By characterizing the debate over illegal immigration as "knee jerk hostility against immigration in general" you ignore the fact that it is ILLEGAL immigration that is at issue, not immigraion in general. Your comments also appear to place money as more important than law. I'm disappointed, Sam.
Another aspect of granting driver's licenses that you overlooked is the automatic delivery of a voter registration form to that driver. It will be difficult for the small town local politicians to decipher if a person is legal if they have been legitimized by a driver's license.
It also makes it easier to buy a car (which shouldn't be purchased by illegals) if car dealers require the driver's license as proof of authority to drive.
The public outcry was righteous and it was right!
SAM RESPONDS:
Good points, Joan. However, my chief concern is not really the premium savings, but the idea that all drivers will have adequate training as well as insurance coverage.
JOAN HAS THE LAST WORD:
Thank you for the opportunity to rebut.
I stand firmly by my point. If law is to mean something, we must hold people accountable to the law. As to your points on insurance.
1.To register a car, you need a driver's license and insurance. To hire a car, you need a driver's license and insurance. The only way for an illegal to be on the road is if they borrow a car (presumably from someone that has insurance), drive an unregistered car or steal a car (an illegal performing another illegal act).
We don't need and shouldn't welcome law-breaking border busters to this country.
2. Legal drivers usually have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists coverage.
As to driving ability, having a license and driver's ed doesn't guarantee a driver will not have an accident. Accident statistics among licensed legitimate drivers proves that.
Posted by Joan | November 15, 2007 11:08 AM
Posted on November 15, 2007 11:08
Look, people of good will can disagree with the concept of giving illegals driver's licenses and they do not deserve to be talked down to.
The 9-11 hijackers used driver's licenses as forms of ID and a bunch of them were in the country illegally, as well. That, I submit, is the concern of a lot of people.
Sure, there are bigots (on all sides) but there are plenty of people out there who are like me who are pro-immigration but anti-illegal immigration.
I see these reports on the savings that will accrue due to granting of licenses and I just do not buy it. What makes anyone believe that someone who engages in illegal behavior will automatically get full insurance and fix this problem? It just does not make any sense.
Personally, I believe that the real motivation behind this is motor-voter. You get a license, you get an application to be registered to vote. Gov. Spitzer's goal is to have a Democratic Senate and that is why he is embroiled in the dirty tricks scandal against Sen. Joe Bruno (only Spitzer can make a two-bit politician like Sen. Bruno a sympathetic figure).
Of course, it backfired on him and he got the call from Don Clinton to drop the program.
Gov. Spitzer has been a big disappointment. He had the ability to really change N.Y. government but did not. He was a bully as AG and he has not changed. What a pity.
Posted by James | November 15, 2007 11:20 AM
Posted on November 15, 2007 11:20
If someone snuck into your house and upon discovery wouldn't leave, would you call that person an "illegal guest"?
The people in question enter and stay in the country in knowing violation of the laws of this country. They do not just end up here and wonder how it happened.
They know that their presence would be and is unlawful, and in order to stay, they attempt to limit their interactions with the rest of society. However, they are not immigrants--they are squatters.
States should not circumvent national law by making it easy for squatters to stay in the country in issuing driver's licenses. Those states that do should immediately lose their federal highway funds.
Until then, making money by selling cars and selling insurance to people without a driver's license is apparently more important than looking out for the country's best interests.
This would not be an issue if OFAC regulations were changed to identify anyone who cannot provide proof of citizenship or proof of legal presence as a SDN.
Until then, the inaction of the federal government foists these problems on society.
SAM RESPONDS: How about making sure people who drive (and many disputed immigrants do, even if they cannot get a license) are properly trained, licensed and insured? Is that not important, too?
READER GETS FINAL WORD:
On your point: "How about making sure people who drive (and many disputed immigrants do, even if they cannot get a license) are properly trained, licensed and insured? Is that not important, too?"
Let's see. I know the country's laws do not permit me to sneak into the country, but I do it anyway. I find a job with an employer who knows I should not be hired but I am hired anyway.
I get paid cash because I should not have been hired and I don't pay into Social Security or pay taxes. I am enabled and encouraged to come because I get the benefits of living here at the cost of hiding from society. Criminals and terrorists also hide from society, which is why this is such a contentiuos issue.
The enablers, our fellow Americans--those who know the law but look the other way for $--are the larger problem. The ethics of these Americans are surrendered to money.
It appears that your comments about safe drivers are not limited to the people in question. I agree the government has a responsibility to ensure public safety.
There are much larger issues at hand than a myopic focus on auto insurance and driving safety, such as not enforcing laws on who is lawfully here.
This is a more important public safety issue than driving. (Maybe not to an injured person, but certainly to the interests of the country as a whole.)
Posted by Words Mean Things | November 15, 2007 1:52 PM
Posted on November 15, 2007 13:52
We conflate two functions in our drivers' licenses in this country: permission to drive a vehicle based on demonstrated ability to do so safely; and personal identification. Gov. Spitzer focued on the former, while his opposition focused on the latter.
It's time for the people of this country to accept the need for a national ID card. Let a driver's license fufill its function relating only to driving; let the ID card function for identification. Issue everyone a national ID card and make it illegal to be out and about without one.
Identify the citizenship of the individual on the ID card. Authorize police and security personnel to demand to see it whenever they have a legitimate reason to stop the person.
If the ID card shows that the person is not a U.S. citizen, give the cop or security guard the right to determine whther the person is in the country legally.
If not, in accordance with a set of rules based on the level of the perceived security threat, turn the person over to Homeland Security for processing for deportation.
Posted by Mikk | November 15, 2007 2:30 PM
Posted on November 15, 2007 14:30
It's time to stop legitimizing illegal immigrants in any way. If people want to immigrate to the U.S. legally, I welcome them. But not the illegal hoardes that have become so openly brazen as to demand all these "rights."
Rights? What rights do we extend to people who break federal law? Oh, yes...free medical care (and that's non-emergency, too) free pre- and post-natal care, free childbirth, and free just about anything else the legal taxpayers are paying for.
We're so overrun in California, the legal citizens, regardless of national origin, begin to look like the minority.
What is it about "illegal" that people don't understand. It's become politically incorrect to call the illegals,illegal aliens. They want to be known as "undocumented workers."
Many do not work but live off the system. Huge numbers are known to be associated with gang activity and have criminal records, both here and in their native country. Hmm, next we'll be calling drug dealers "undocumented pharmacists."
Funny how the alien population tell you they can't read or speak English, and here we give driver license tests in about 18 languages. How does that make the roads any safer when they can't read the highway or street signs? Will we put the signs in all possible languages to accommodate all?
Also, I note when cars are stolen and headed for the border, the illegals have no problem driving or navigating whatsoever. Why is that?
Let's get real. If they're illegal, they don't register the vehicles or buy insurance. Most of the time following an accident, they run, if possible.
Posted by BJ | November 16, 2007 7:37 PM
Posted on November 16, 2007 19:37
Responding to BJ's comments:
If a person from a foreign land comes to this country, legally or otherwise, and does productive work here (work is "productive" by definition if someone willingly pays him or her to do it), he or she has added to America's economic well-being--even if he or she pays no taxes.
However, even illegal immigrants working "off the books" do pay taxes. They pay the same sales taxes as everyone else. When they pay rent for their lodgings, a large part of it goes to pay the landlord's property taxes.
If they submit a false Social Security number to the employer, the employer starts paying SS taxes to the federal government--which has amassed something like a $360 billion account of SS payments that cannot be matched to anyone who will ever get SS benefits.
Illegal immigrants are paying SS taxes for which they will never receive benefits, thus subsidizing us citizens and legal immigrants. They do work for lower wages than citizens are willing to accept--an implicit "tax" on the value of their labor.
You assert that "many do not work but live off the system," and that "huge numbers" are criminals. How do you know that? Are those numbers any greater, in proportion, than those among our legal citizenry?
If they were fully embraced into our society, might whatever their level of criminality is, be reduced? More taxes get paid?
I am all in favor of a strong filter on the numbers and types of peeople who enter this country, as long as the filter is sensible and in the long-run interest of the country.
But once they are here, legally or not, it is in our interest to integrate them quickly and fully into the life of our country, not to create a permanent and resentful underclass.
This country is never going to engage in a massive program of ethnic cleansing or Stalinist-style "resettlement" programs to expel the 12 million (or whatever the number is) illegal immigrants is--at least I hope not.
Posted by Mikk | November 20, 2007 1:10 PM
Posted on November 20, 2007 13:10
Responding to Mikk:
If you live in a border state, which I do, work closely with law enforcement, which I do, you see the realities of our failed immigration policies.
Visit our detention facilities, check the gang statistics and see what the numbers are. It's frightening to those who deal with it daily; more so to the general public.
In many cases, serious crime is committed by illegal aliens who are then deported and return, and commit crime after crime and are deported numerous times. We don't incarcereate them here until the felony is of such gravity that they are no longer subject to deportation, such as a homicide. The system, frankly, just doesn't work.
Do you recognize that illegals can and do receive free medical treatment through Medi-Cal and through the Form 1011 program, which is paid for through our tax dollars?
Do you know that they can and do receive Social Security whether they are illegal or not, if those numbers can be matched up? Case law proves that if money is put into the system, legal residence is not a factor in receiving benefits. That includes Medicare, which continually seems to struggle to maintain solvency.
Let's get realistic. Go after the employers of the illegals and much of the illegal migration will end. And, go back to a decent program to allow a reasonable level of legal immigration and a good day worker program like we used to have, so people can work here and then return home at night, without sneaking across the borders.
Incidentally, if you ever are seriously ill in Southern California and have an extended wait, sometimes up to 8 or 10 hours, in the ER, it's likely due to all the free medical care others are receiving as they clog the system.
This doesn't seem important to anyone until you or a loved one is seriously ill, and you see the entire families with kids with the sniffles in the ER instead of at the doctor, and realize all the resources being used for minor issues because it's fee.
And, yes, the people tell each other how to use the system because they come in and ask for the 1011 form by name.
Posted by BJ | November 23, 2007 12:05 PM
Posted on November 23, 2007 12:05