Not all flip-flops are bad. This week, another liberal Democratic governor did a screeching U-turn and suddenly abandoned his state’s long-standing but inexcusable policy of issuing driver’s licenses willy-nilly to illegal immigrants.
Before Gov. Martin O’Malley’s unexpected flip-flop this week, Maryland was one of seven states that basically handed out driver’s licenses to anybody who passed the tests. The practice was dangerous because of the unwarranted presumption by other public officials that Maryland checked out each licensee’s bona fides. Last fall, widespread public outrage forced New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to back down on this issue. This time, it was O’Malley, who reluctantly abandoned his untenable position Tuesday just as his poll numbers hit a giant pothole following a special legislative session he called to raise taxes.
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Because all but one of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers used state-issued driver’s licenses to board the planes they used to attack the Pentagon and World Trade Center, verifying each applicant’s identity was a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Congress passed the REAL ID Act of 2005 to make sure there would be no repeats of this licensing lunacy. Last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security released 300 pages of standards that enable states to continue issuing driver’s licenses, while complying with federal law. The feds are also offering $360 million to help defray the additional expense.
Virginia and the District both tightened up their licensure requirements after 9/11, but Maryland officials refused, though they were repeatedly warned that noncompliance would prevent Marylanders from boarding commercial airplanes and entering federal installations. As of last week, the O’Malley administration was insisting on an absurd two-tier licensing scheme like the one Spitzer hawked before being forced into his own hasty retreat. Although the estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants in Maryland will no longer be eligible for a state driver’s license, they can still legally drive using one from their own country or an international driver’s license. However, neither entitles them to social services or allows them to vote. By Jan. 1, 2017, all Maryland drivers must present either a birth certificate, passport or some other verifiable documentation as proof they are legal residents of the United States. Farfrom being draconian, these federal regulations are remarkably similar to what Maryland itself required two decades ago when fairness and security, not political correctness, were still the state’s highest priorities.
