New York abandons plans on drivers licenses for illegals

WASHINGTON — New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer Wednesday abandoned his plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, saying the federal government's failure to solve the nation's immigration troubles and a poisonous political climate mean his state "cannot successfully address this problem on its own."

"It does not take a stethoscope to hear the pulse of New Yorkers on this topic," he said.

Spitzer, a Democrat, told reporters after a meeting with members of New York's congressional delegation that while states and cities must deal with the consequences of Washington's failure, pushing forward unilaterally would be counterproductive to his broader agenda in Albany because his opponents used it against him and to drown out other debate.

Spitzer's abrupt withdrawal of a plan rolled out Sept. 21 to bring an estimated 1 million illegal immigrants "out of the shadows" and into compliance with state licensing requirements was an effort to repair some of the damage caused by a tumultuous few weeks for him and his party. Polls showed that as many as 70 percent of New Yorkers opposed the plan.

Washington is one of eight states that currently do not require drivers to prove legal status in order to obtain a license.

The licensing question appeared to catch Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., off guard at a national debate Oct. 30. Her rivals for the Democratic nomination and Republican foes pounced on her initial failure to take a stronger stand.

In Washington, D.C., Spitzer directed blame toward a federal government that "has lost control of its borders," let millions of illegal immigrants into the country "and now has no solution to deal with it."

While he said he continued to believe the licensing plan was a practical way to increase security and make roads safer, "fear-mongering" forces who equated immigrant dishwashers with Osama bin Laden and a driver's license with "a passport to terror and a license to kill" were too strong.

"Tomorrow, undocumented workers will not stop driving. The federal government is not going to deport 1 million undocumented workers from New York by the end of this year any more than it did last year or the year before," Spitzer said. "So my challenge to the federal government is this: Fix it. Fix the problem so the states won't face the local impact."

Last month, Spitzer sought to salvage the license effort by striking a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to create three distinct types of state driver's licenses: one "enhanced" card that would be as secure as a passport; a second-tier license good for boarding airplanes; and a third marked not valid for federal purposes that would be available to illegal immigrants and others.

The signed agreement with Washington may still be salvaged: Aides to Spitzer said he planned to go forward with the border-crossing card. The state took a wait-and-see approach to the second-tier license that would meet federal standards for what is known as Real ID — a national and secure identification that would make it much harder for terrorists to get licenses.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Spitzer's reversal on the license issue "a good development" and said immigration is a federal issue for which his department has to "ramp up enforcement."

"What I want to make sure is that states aren't working at cross-purposes with us and enabling the kind of conduct we're enforcing against," Chertoff told The Associated Press by phone from London.

He said the signed agreement between his agency and the state would "absolutely" still go forward for the other two types of licenses.