Burning Atlanta

There's not much I can add to this. Spitzer IS an idiot.

Get a clue.

September 27, 2007 -- THE Department of Motor Vehicles, says Gov. Spitzer, "is not the INS" - meaning he doesn't want the DMV doing the work of granting or verifying anyone's immigration status. (He was referring to the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, now the Citizenship and Immigration Services).

Funny thing is, Spitzer's "solution" to the problem is to have New York's DMV do pretty much the same thing.

Spitzer appointees at the DMV last Friday began making good on one of the gov's campaign promises - namely, to reverse the state's post-9/11 policy of not granting drivers licenses to illegal immigrants.

Spitzer's answer: new anti-fraud measures at DMV - including document-verification technology, photograph-comparison tools and training staff with "expertise in foreign-sourced identity documents."

Huh? The governor thinks the old DMV staff wasn't sophisticated enough to vet visa or U.S. immigration papers, but now they're going to be high-tech examiners of exotic documents? How is the new arrangement not asking the DMV to do the work of federal immigration clerks?

The chief economist for the state Department of Insurance, Hampton Finer, has researched the issue for the government. He estimates that, "of the 650,000 uninsured motorists in New York today, two-thirds are likely to remain uninsured even with the change in the rules."

With 11 million drivers in the state, another 200,000 folks with insurance isn't likely to change rates much.

Keeping Spitzer's promise may also mean trouble with the federal government.

Eighteen of the 9/11 terrorists had driver's licenses or other forms of U.S. ID, which they used to rent cars and apartments, to sign up for flying lessons - and to board the planes. That's why the 9/11 Commission strongly recommended strict rules for acquiring a driver's license. (It's also why then-Gov. George Pataki toughened up New York's rules in 2002.)

Congress is still implementing the 9/11 Commission's recommendations - but it's already gotten to this one. Under the Real ID Act of 2005, all states must soon adopt rules for driver's licenses similar to New York's (pre-Spitzer) requirements. But now New York itself may be violating the federal law.

Spitzer is right to criticize the federal government for America's incoherent and inefficient immigration system. But his rewriting of New York's DMV rules doesn't fix that - it just adds to the whole mess.