Sep 22, 2007 4:12 pm US/Eastern
New York To Issue Driver's Licenses To All
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
People were celebrating outside the governor's office Friday as Eliot Spitzer handed a landmark victory to a half-million illegal immigrants.
The state will no longer require proof of citizenship for driver's licenses.
"We're changing our policy with respect to getting more people out of shadows and into the system so people don't hide they're here," Spitzer said.
He said the current restrictions on non-citizens have filled the roads with unlicensed drivers five times more likely to get into accidents.
But the also called it a matter of justice.
"As long as I'm governor we won't pretend they don't exist, cut them off from society," Spitzer said.
But the action triggered a bitter response from some 9/11 family members, who said the governor would be providing identification for potential terrorists.
And a Brooklyn state senator says he'll try to overturn the decision.
"This governor has chosen to give the keys to the city, the keys to the state to terrorism," Sen. Martin J. Golden said.
As for the public, it's clear that people have strong feelings on both sides of the issue.
"I don't think if you're here illegally you should have the same privileges people who are here legally do," office manager Cliff Hoffman said.
Added legal word processor Bill Slater: "I think illegal people are getting a free ride. I don't think it's fair to other hard-working citizens who do work hard."
Planning consultant John Madden said the move is also a pre-emptive strike against another type of potentially hazardous driver.
"The problem is they're gonna drive anyway," Madden said. "You might as well make them legal drivers with insurance."
The new rules will start to kick in at the end of the year, unless someone finds a way to put a halt to them.
Under the new policy, the Department of Motor Vehicles will accept foreign passports and birth certificates from immigrants as proof of identification. They will no longer need to provide a Social Security card.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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