Illinois Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Aliens Puts All of U.S. at Risk



Illinois’ bill (SB 957) to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens is moving quickly through the State’s Democrat controlled legislature. Yesterday, the Senate passed the bill 41-14. It is quickly gaining support of both Democrats and Republicans.

It Won’t Make Roads Safer
Giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens in no way guarantees safer roads or that they will purchase insurance. The safest roads do not have unlawfully present people driving on them. New Mexico, one of only two states to grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, has the second-highest rate of uninsured drivers in the United States.

By the same token, it defies common sense to say that the best way to combat accidents by illegal aliens is to give them all drivers’ licenses. It’s disingenuous to argue that someone who has openly violated federal immigration laws by being in the country illegally is going to have any more respect for the driving laws.

It Poses National Security Risks
Granting driver’s licenses to illegal aliens makes them invisible to enforcement authorities by giving them the one document they most need to secure employment, transact business, and register to vote. This fact is especially disturbing considering that, unlike legal immigrants, illegal aliens are not subject to stringent background checks or face-to-face interviews to determine the existence of any national security threat that they might pose.

It is additionally concerning that SB 957 expressly authorizes Illinois driver’s license officials to accept consular IDs and foreign passports as proof of identification. States do not have the capacity to verify the validity of these documents. Remember, the 19 September 11 hijackers carried among them over 60 state driver’s licenses.

Mindful of this, the first and most important recommendation of the 9/11 Commission was to tighten issuing requirements. Issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens – as Illinois intends to do – could not be more counterproductive to the Commission’s intent.

It Invites and Condones Illegal Immigration
Illinois already has a welcome mat out for illegal aliens and not surprisingly now has 550,000 persons residing unlawfully in the state costing taxpayers over $4.5 billion annually. Unless Illinois has a genuine interest in attracting even more illegal aliens, there can be no justification for extending privileges. The policy condones the presence of illegal aliens by providing them with driving privileges and a de facto identification document which allow them to continue to live and work in the country unlawfully – all while they and their children utilize public benefits and services.

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Content written by Federation for American Immigration Reform staff.

41 Comments

  1. avatar
    juanasaldierna on

    well ppl like you all sittin here writing to this post really need to read up on ur laws here in the US if you did you would know if you are illegal in this country NO ONE helps pay bills NO foodstamps nothing the ones bring this country down are the sorry US CITIZENS that willnot get jobs! Not ILLEGALS ! So before you start writing stuff it’s best you know what you are talking about

  2. avatar

    well ppl like you all sittin here writing to this post really need to read up on ur laws here in the US if you did you would know if you are illegal in this country NO ONE helps pay bills NO foodstamps nothing the ones bring this country down are the sorry US CITIZENS that willnot get jobs! Not ILLEGALS !

    • avatar

      You Should Thank God You’re in America

      If I wrote the blog you just wrote in say, Mexico, and was an IA in that motherland….I’d be arrested and rotting in a Mexican prison.

  3. avatar

    I don’t understand how laws that were implemented to protect our country are suddenly being changed and engineered to put American Citizens at more risk than before 9/11. Does it surprise me? No. This is only the beginning, folks. Think of all the damage hat can be accomplished within the NEXT 4 yrs.. Thanks to the people that voted for the same person that has BANKRUPTED this country, your welfare checks won’t be of any value when America is no longer ‘Free’, and WE are the foreigners. We’ve become the laughing stock of the entire world.

  4. Pingback: States Eager to Tempt Fate Consider Licenses for Illegal Aliens

  5. avatar

    I agree and empathize with the feelings echoed by all comments on this issue. But I do think FAIR is merely preaching to the choir when it posts these stories and issues. With regard to immigration (legal and illegal), things are not getting better – they’re getting much worse.

    “We” will not, and can not make any difference in this area. We have a 1-party government, and that’s the party of money and big business. Both actively recruit illegal immigration – one party for their future votes, and the other for cheap labor. What I call “legal” illegal immigration (better known as outsourcing) is taking jobs and careers from all sectors of our economy, not just lower skilled jobs. I know people with masters’ degrees and doctorates who have lost jobs to outsourcing.

    As our economy becomes more reliant upon this Information Age, related jobs will involve sitting in front of a computer. Any job involving a computer has the potential to be outsourced. The Mexican minimum wage is $4 dollars per day. Per day, not per hour. And this is high compared to the wages of India, China, the Philippines, etc. Just how can American workers compete with these income disparities? We can not.

    Next time you meet someone in favor of illegal immigration, just ask him or her if they will give up their job to an illegal. The answer is always no. Well, then no one else should either.

  6. avatar

    I had to show my birth certificate, before I could take the test, age 18, 1959. and all my children had to take there’s in with them, to show that they were born here, to get there driver’s licenses. so If they dont have an American birth certificate then the should not get a licenses. so the Government is going to by pass all the thing’s that as a real American born. Has to do. You have to have a birth certificate to get in to the armed service’s and heve finshed high school. I know because my boys had to show theres when they joined the Army. Alien’s get everything they want, without proof of legal birthright’s. Shame On Our Government. What is this a two way street. Everything for the Aliens and Nothing for the true American’s. Our fore Fathers Fought for this Country to keep it free from this sort of thing. And our President is just giving it away, to all the Alien’s from other Country’s.. GOD BLESS THE USA.

  7. avatar

    Why aren’t these foreigner deported as we find them? Nevermind violent crime arguments from the Left. I will be ahppy to pay more taxes if that money is used to deport, deport, deport! I am afraid my Republican party is caving on this issue. Are we simply being defeated by third-world birthrates?

    • avatar

      Amen brother, and that goes for their issue also. Driving is not a right in this Country, but privilege one that is earned, and has well defined rules. Enough of NM, WA, Ca, and now ILL. If they continue to look for ways to give a false case for amnesty we of the other 46 states will not give anyone with drivers license from those 4 states a pass without stopping them as driving without acceptable insurance is not legal in most other states. It is going to be up to our states to protect the American drivers from this until we remove all the anti-American losers that have been elected to the Senate, and Congress, forget the WH its been corrupted for the last 30 years.

  8. avatar

    WE MUST ALL DEMAND, IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS, THAT ALL OF OF OUR POLITICIANS NOT CATER TO OR LISTEN TO THE INSISTENT AND DEMANDING ACTIVISTS OF ALL KINDS, FROM SO-CALLED LATINO ACTIVISTS TO MUSLIM ACTISTS AND GLBT SCREAMERS, ETC. THEY ACTUALL REPRESENT A SMALL % OF THE TOTAL POPULATION. ALL OF THEIR `OPINION SURVEYS` ARE AS PHONY AS A 3 DOLLAR BILL. THE WORTHLESS POLITICIANS (BOTH PARTIES) TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT AMD LISTEN TO THE DEMANDING ACTIVISTS. CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS NEED TO SHOW IN THEIR POLITICAL CAMPAIGN FLYERS, CLEARLY AND HARD HITTING, HOW THEIR OPPNENTS ARE SELLING OUT AMERICANS. HOW THAT THE 0BAMA ADMINISTRATION LET IN 438,000 NEW AISIANS INTO AMERICA IN 2010, ETC, ETC. THAT IS, BESIDES THE THOUSANDS OF AFRICAN NATIVES WHO HAVE GRABBED THOUSANDS OF AIRPORT JOBS, PARKING GARAGE, GAS STATION, FILLED UP 7-11 STORES. THESE TAKE AWAY MANY, MANY THOUSANDS OF JOBS FROM US, THE NATIVE BORN AMERICAN CITIZENS. FIND OUT WHICH ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS ARE HELPING AND MALICIOUSLY PERPATRATING THIS UNHOLY EVIL UPON AMERICA. EXPOSE THEM!!! OVER AND OVER AGAIN. AND DO NOT BE WIMPY ABOUT IT! GET MOVING NOW!

  9. avatar

    That’s just great, give all the damn illegals licenses and when the accidents hit an all time high, then what is Illinois going to do? Especially if and when death(s) occur. Who do you go after for hospital and doctor bills and god forbid funeral expenses. That’s when the PEOPLE SUE the State of Illinois, and all the dimwits that voted for for bill.

  10. avatar

    It is very sad to see our country erroding into a place where the rule of law and responsibility for ones’ actions does not matter. I will not be surprised to see the government also provide assistance for illegals to obtain auto insurance. In my state of CA it will not be long before illegals are granted a drivers’ license. In Los Angeles in recent reports, 48% of fatal or injury collisions involve hit and runs. It does not take an expert to guess who are committing most of these accidents. Unfortunately, LAPD and LASD leaders are in favor of granting illegals drivers’ licenses. Their reasoning is that it would make it easier to identify a suspect or driver on a traffic stop. LA is a sanctuary city and it shows.

    • avatar
      kavender joshi on

      You are wrong , you ever thing why they hit & run, becouse they don’t have drivers’ licenses, and we all know we try to stop them frome last 10 years or 15 years but we can not stop them.
      So i am thinking whatever action state take, it is the right one.

    • avatar

      You get what you vote for! Try someone new next time, and if they blow smoke up your rear then pick someone new again, but don’t keep putting the same fools back in office.

  11. avatar

    Driver’s license for illegals don’t go far enough. It should be a combination document, Driver’s License, Voters Card, and Conceal Carry Authorization. But control it by making it good for 35 months instead of the 3 years which is way to long. What the hell make it a birth certificate also. Illinois will pickup on this idea by Monday.

  12. avatar

    If the illegals don’t have to have insurance on their vehicles and we do, doesn’t that fall into the category of double standards and discrimination? It is time for the people of this country to step up and demand from our elected officials the justice needed. All of the illegals need to be deported and Obama impeached along with the Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder. Members of Congress sit on their butts and never stand up for us as legal citizens and American citizens. Everyone should call their Senator’s and Congressmen and demand that they use the power given them by the Constitution before the Constitution is lost. THEY HAVE TO STOP CATERING TO THE WISHES OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND THEIR SOCIALIST AGENDA AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THEM IN OFFICE, DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, INDEPENDENTS, GREEN PARTY, AND WHOEVER ELSE.

    • avatar
      kavender joshi on

      Haa Haa Haa, do we can deporte the all illegals if it is then what we are looking for every one try ing to deporte them from last 20 years and they are eating our tax from lat 20 years too.
      Yes we can deport all illegal from our country within a year if we wont but we know and every one know why we can not deporte them may you Eddie ………………?

    • avatar

      Although I agree with you entirely, the problem we have is that the liberals and the illegals are the ones that put these jerks in office in the first place. Do you really believe the illegals aren’t voting? In order to vote, you are supposedly required to be a citizen of the U.S. To be a citizen, you must know basic English at the very least. That is why legal immigrants take English classes prior to obtaining citizenship. Why then is it that all paperwork at the polling centers are printed in English AND Spanish? If you can’t speak English, you are obviously NOT a legal citizen! Therefore, there is absolutely NO need to print forms in Spanish!! This country is going to hell in a handbasket and it is the liberals and illegals causing it. If you try to say something about it, they start screaming about their rights. How does someone that is NOT a citizen have rights?? Ilegal = criminal, therefore NO rights. I hate to say this, but it is time for a revolution once again. Americans need to take back America and put people in office that will make this country what it once was. I’m glad I am in my golden years. Hopefully, I won’t live long enough to see the total destruction of this country. I just feel bad for my children and grandchildren.

      • avatar

        I agree with every single word from grumpyoldman. I’ve been saying the same thing for years. Are people complete morons for electing idiots? I’m an independent voter–vote for the man, not the party. The Dem. party & the Rep. party is NOT the same party as 50 yrs. ago. If Obama had been a Republican, would the Democrats switch sides & vote for him? I’d still like to know how he traveled on a foreign student visa. Spending time & money for immigration laws when we already have immigration laws is totally ridiculous. PLEASE ENFORCE THE LAWS WE ALREADY HAVE!! I, too, am glad I’m in my golden years. I, too, feel sorry for my children & grandchildren.

        • avatar

          That is it. Enforce the current laws. If that had been occurring all along this would not be an issue now. Who needs to be fired for not doing their job? I don’t understand how an illegal can walk into any government office and not get detained for being here illegally. Isn’t that like a going in to rob a bank and then opening your own account with the money ? OK, that example is an extreme comparison but just trying to make a point. To get my DL need a birth certificate, Social Security Number and 2 items for proof of address. What will illegal aliens need?

  13. avatar

    to the illinois politicians,you politicians,like the rest of government,are a treasonous,lawless,useless inept bunch of un american traitors.and we the people who are the real government,will be bring treason charges against each one who voted for the tragic bill sb957,this will be noted by we the people,all who voted for this bill,are a threat to we the people,and the constitution,you are aiding and abetting illegal aliens,which undermines the laws of the united states,and will be voting each and everyone of you vile,lawless,treasonous traitors to the constitituion,and against we the people,who are the real government.god bless romney/ryan,sheriff joe and cold case posse,chuck norris,frank serpico,and all legal american veternas/citizens.we will be watching your deeds,not your words,as you politicians,can not be trusted,or counted on.

  14. avatar

    I called my Illinois state senator and representative and expressed my displeasure at providing driver’s licenses to illegals. I ask that everyone does the same. In fact, all U.S. citizens should call to inform all Illinois politicians that American citizens are watching their vote and are concerned. Illinois is a corrupt state and doing nothing allows the corruption to continue unchecked.

  15. avatar

    Our politicians have gone overboard on the illegals in this country. They will do anything to stay in POWER. The illegal voters attest to that. They will continue to use our tax dollars to buy whatever keeps them in their positions. It is the law that I must have insurance, but most illegals don’t. So who pays when they get into accidents? I do! Since most of them can not read and usnderstand the language of this country, how can they read street signs? Besides being the number one drain on our taxes, they cause a lot of damage, kill a lot of people, rob, sell drugs, join gangs, etc. There are laws against this behavior if you are a citizen. Maybe we should all give up our citizenship and become illegal. You think that we would be a lot better off? I don’t really think so, who would the politicians depend on for money if there were no citizens….

    • avatar
      kavender joshi on

      Do you ever try to find out how many crime hapen in USA and what are % of US citizen, it will be 85% to 90 % crimes do By the US citizen.

  16. avatar

    this is insane giving even more credibilty to the one worldoreder agenda proganda and its the only thing that makes this make sense, a world without borders? we need to do something but what you do when all the law officers and law makers are in charge we need a lawman revolt on our side so that keeping the law isnt elegal in this matter any more (now to suport the law is to break the law????) sad but true…..think about it! this law breaks constitutional bounderies doesnt it?

  17. avatar

    A pieve of paper is not going to stop the invaders from drinking, then driving…into innocent citizens. This must be laughable to other countries, especially Mexico. You would not only not get a license, you would propably wind up in one of their prisons and that’s if you’re lucky. Otherwise, you might just lose your head. Of course, all corruption in Mexico is the fault of the US. Mexico has never taken responsibility for anything they do. It’s always out fault. Guess that’s why our government makes up for their guilt – they had over anything from food stamps to citizenship. Yep. It’s pretty cheap these days – means nothing to our government anymore.

  18. avatar

    WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Do you not realize that our country is going broke? Do you not realize that the cost of supporting these illegal immigrants has helped put us in this “fiscal cliff” situation? When you were voted into office it was understood by those who voted for you that you would represent them. Is this what you call representation? Giving illegal immigrants drivers’ licenses and all other benefits of being an American citizen is not the kind of representtion we need – especially now. Being an American citizen allows one to have rights, privileges and benefits that should not be handed out to criminals.

    PLEASE! I BEG YOU to reconsider this action and DO NOT ALLOW criminals to have these benefits. Most of these illegal aliens don’t even vote. Consider the fact that Americans citizens who become felons are not allowed to vote. A criminal is a criminal – and criminals do not have nor should they have the same rights as law-abiding citizens.

  19. avatar

    All states that have strict identification standards for licenses should not recognize any licenses from states that give them to illegals. What is also going to have to happen is that states that have ballot petition procedures for the public will have to get measures on the ballot to mandate e verify. It’s the only way to do it. The republicans ran in Florida from Scott on down on mandatory e verify, had a big majority, and then outright refused to do it. I think any public vote would approve it. But it will have to be put on state ballots by petition drives.

  20. avatar

    Not sorry if I offend anyone, but send them all back to the countries they came from. If they want to be an American do it the right way. the legal way,and pay your own bills and taxes! This includes Obama, he can leave too!

    • avatar
      Tired of illegal aliens on

      Immigrants, illegal or otherwise, will never be Americans as they were not born in the USA.

      • avatar

        What a ridiculous statement. You are saying someone admitted to reside for the rest of their life in America is not a real American but someone born in the US to an illegal alien IS a real American?

      • avatar

        I agree with MOST of the people on here. However, YOU are an absolute jerk. Legal immigrants ARE Americans and they worked for that right and honor. My parents were immigrants from Europe (and at some point, your relatives immigrated here, too). I served many years in the military, my son is serving in the military, my daughter served eight years in the military. We did this because of my parents love and respect for this country. It was a value that was instilled in us. They came here legally, and they earned citizenship. They are more American than you will EVER be. You don’t have to be born here to be American, but you DO have to respect the laws of this country and the citizens of this country. Being American has nothing to do with being born here. There are plenty of Muslim terrorists that were born here. Do you consider them American? A true American has NOTHING to do with where you were born. It is an attitude and respect for this country, the laws of the land, and appreciation for the opportunities and way of life this country offers. Illegal aliens that come here do not respect our laws. THEY will never be American!

  21. avatar

    There’s a Severe Shortage of Good Used Cars in America as It Is

    Encouraging IAs to drive is just going to drive used car prices through the roof even worse. Also, with used car prices so high lately, you can imagine the unsafe smashed up junkers the excess drivers IAs will be driving on our roads too.

    • avatar

      Have you been in a NYC taxi lately, I wouldn’t be so sure that who’s pic is on the visor is the same that is on the medallion. At any rate what makes anyone think that because they rode a ric sha, or an elephant , water buff, and all kinds of donkey carts makes them cab drivers in the state of NY.? No it must be that genius Sen. C. Schumer.

  22. avatar

    WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE CRAZY? ISNT OUR COUNTRY IN BAD ENOUGH SHAPE WITH OUT CATERING TO ILLEGALS WHO NEED TO GO HOME AND LIVE OFF THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT. GIVING THEM LICENSES JUST MAKES MORE COME ON OVER. WHY DONT WE JUST OPEN OUR COUNTRY UP FOR EVERYONE TO COME OVER. THEY CAN TAKE MORE OF OUR JOBS I GUESS YOU THINK WE HAVE PLENTY TO SPARE.

  23. avatar
    Jack E. Schurman on

    I am beginning to hate the fact that I spent two years with a total of twelve years in the military in Viet Nam. I returned home called a baby killer, and a woman killer for what I thought that I was protecting the Constitution of the these United States and now an illegal alien can come into my country and use benefits that even some natual citizens cant get from the government costing millions of dollars in aide, medical, and school for their kides this is not why I fought for my and other peoples rights. This sucks.

    • avatar
      Tired of illegal aliens on

      Thank you for your service! People all over the world enjoy freedoms because of men like you! Please don’t give up, stay active, encourage others to do the same. Have political discussions with everyone and encourage others to do the same. America got into this mess because people live by “never discuss religion or politics”!!!