Posted by: echo in 2009 on
Mar 09, 2009
The issue of denying drivers licenses to illegal aliens raises the question of how to deal with unlawful behavior. By definition illegal aliens have performed an unlawful act - entering the United States and staying here. They have short circuited the legal immigration process. Their conduct should not be approved of.
The problem lies in the facts that there are many millions of illegal aliens in the United States, and that their existence here is tolerated. Many of the illegal aliens drive cars. Some of those who drive cars will be involved in auto accidents. Licensing drivers gives some degree of assurance that they have minimal skills. Thus licensing illegal alien drivers will -- even if only to a small extent -- reduce the number of auto accidents. Cars driven by licensed drivers in Maryland are likely be licensed in Maryland and other states which have higher liability insurance requirements than cars driven by unlicensed illegal aliens. When there is an accident and the illegal alien is responsible, the innocent party, who is likely to be a legal resident of the United States -- there are more of us -- will pay less of the cost of the accident.
On balance, the practical considerations in the second paragraph above outweigh the legal considerations in the first. There are rational responses to the problems raised by the presence in the United States of illegal aliens. Denying them drivers licenses is, I submit, not one of them.
Wilbur Friedman
