One of the worst ideas that a number of state legislatures had over the past decade was to hand out driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Tennessee did so for a time before sensibly ending the practice a few years back.
Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, who is now seeking the governorship again, unfortunately promoted licenses for illegal aliens when he was governor.
In a Sept. 21, 2001, article, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, “Gov. Roy Barnes said Thursday the state should grant some form of driver’s license to illegal immigrants, something that has long been a top priority of advocates for Georgia’s booming Latino population.
“Barnes said the state could create an international driver’s license for non-citizens or follow the lead of North Carolina and Tennessee and let illegal immigrants get a standard license.”
Months later he said the license proposal was “premature,” and now, his campaign spokesman claims, “Roy did not support driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants then, and he doesn’t now.”
But whatever Barnes may say today, the fact remains that a few short years ago he did believe illegal aliens should be entitled to driver’s licenses.
It is a terrible idea for any U.S. state to give any form of official identification to illegal aliens. It gives them a false sense of legitimacy, because a driver’s license is considered acceptable ID for countless business or other transactions in the United States.
Barnes’ poor judgment on the issue of driver’s licenses for illegals, and his generally liberal positions, are good reasons for Georgians not to give him their votes for governor in November.