WaPo admits: Maryland driver's licenses are incredibly insecure, open to fraud (advocating two-tier system?)

When even the Washington Post notices a problem relating to immigration, you know it's a real problem. Thus it is that NC Aizenman and Lisa Rein offer "Easy-to-Get Licenses Expose Md. to Fraud/Out-of-State Illegal Immigrants Exploit Rules" (link). The WaPo appears to be trying to get Maryland to pass a Real ID-compliant two-tier licensing scheme under which illegal aliens would get a license to drive but not to do much more. However, while there is some PC beating around the bush, there also isn't the outright advocacy we've come to expect from the WaPo:

Maryland ...has become a magnet for illegal immigrants from Georgia to Delaware seeking driving privileges... Along with New Mexico, Hawaii and Washington state, Maryland does not check the immigration status of drivers when they apply for a license. The policy has made the state vulnerable to widespread fraud by illegal immigrants living outside Maryland -- as well as to criminals seeking to create false identities -- according to court records and interviews with state officials... Security is the chief concern cited by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and lawmakers as the General Assembly debates whether to require license-seekers to verify their lawful presence in the country. It's a change the Democratic-controlled legislature has resisted out of sensitivity to immigrants... Immigrant rights advocates support a two-tiered system that would also comply with federal law by allowing newcomers without proof of legal status to get a limited license for driving -- but not to board airplanes, enter federal buildings or cross borders. O'Malley and other opponents say that wouldn't stop the fraud problem... If it doesn't pass its own law, Maryland would be forced to meet an early deadline to put into effect other costly provisions of the Real ID law... ...Maryland's license is considered so insecure that some states, including Colorado, Arizona and Oklahoma, no longer accept it as a proof of identity for relocating drivers...

The article also quotes Kim Propeack from Casa de Maryland:

[she] noted that bribery still goes on in states where illegal immigrants can't get licenses. And she said that whatever residency fraud Maryland might prevent by tightening its rules would be outweighed by a rise in internal corruption and document mills... "The more difficult it is to obtain [a license] legally, the harder people are going to struggle to obtain it fraudulently," Propeack said.

Sun, 03/29/2009 - 06:29 · Importance: 4