will permitting illegal immigrants to get driver license help national security?

Question

Will it help national security track criminals who sneak into amercia? If yes, How?

Answer 1

Maybe. I don't think that even the most ardent proponents of offering licenses to undocumented immigrants believe doing so will directly help law enforcement catch people who try to enter the country to, say, deal drugs or steal cars.
It may, however, make things easier for police agencies working with generally law abiding populations of undocumented workers and thus free up resources to fight serious terrorists. When someone without the documentation to work in the U.S. gets stopped for something as simple as a traffic violation, it can take several hours to reach a resolution. Things get even more complicated when someone commits a not-so-serious crime that still mandates law enforcement action. (Minor vandalism, getting into a fist fight.) If people here illegally could get better IDs, they could be processed in the same was as citizens and legal migrants. Since people who have to pass driving tests to receive licenses, one assumes it would also improve traffic safety and reduce accidents overall. At least in theory, this would free up more resources to track serious criminals of all kinds including those who try to sneak into the United States.
On the other hand, it can be argued that granting licenses (which are de facto national ID cards) to illegal immigrants legitimizes the misdemeanor offense of illegal presence in the United States and breeds overall disrespect for the law. So there's no easy answer.

Answer 2

No. Foreign ID's from what are politely called "less developed countries" are usually just handwritten papers from someone like a village priest or local police officer. As such they are VERY easy to get bogus ones.

That means that if we grant Drivers Licenses to people who're in the country illegally and haven't already been cleared by Immigration, we have NO idea who they are. It's also easy for someone to have half a dozen different sets of fake foreign ID, and thus get half a dozen fake - but genuine - US drivers licenses. Then a terrorist can use a drivers license in name A when buying a ticket from New York to Boston, in name B from Boston to Los Angeles, then rent a car in LA in name D, and buy some ingredients for home made explosives using a credit card in name E. Makes it IMPOSSIBLE to track them.

Richard

Answer 3

Probably not but obsessing about issues like immigration are only ways to avoid the important topics that need to be discussed during this election cycle:
Getting out of Iraq
Not going into Iran
Reforming the No Child Left Behind Act
Health Care Reform
Address Global Warming

Answer 4

yes, by allowing for a way to keep track of people in the country. COnsidering most of the 911 hijackers hd US IDs, probably not too much.

Answer 5

no

how do you give a person with no credible ID a driver's license? Take them at their word? The ones that have things to hide will still be hiding.