Why giving illegal aliens driver's licenses isn't such a bad idea...

When I read this article on the potential for voter fraud from giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens, I agreed with it - why would you want to give illegal aliens driver's licenses?

After some thought, and after watching this week's Opinion Journal Editorial Report, I'm leaning towards thinking it's actually a good idea. The voter fraud angle does concern me, and I would hope someone comes up with a way around it, but I think it would be good if illegals had licenses.

Do I think this for the benefit of illegal immigrants? No. Because I'm a selfish bastard, I think I would be better off with licensed illegals.

With the exception of a very small number of cities, it's very hard to survive in the US without driving. There are a ton of illegal immigrants in the US. Thus, there are probably a ton of illegals driving as we speak - not carrying insurance, and having accidents. Many of these accidents are hit-and-runs, because they are illegals who have no license or insurance, so they run.

Would this stop with licensed illegals? Probably not. Illegals also have limited resources, and thus there are probably a number who still would not carry insurance. But some would, and it would make it easier to track them down.

Driver's licenses also give us a way to have some idea of who is in our country. Terrorism is the obvious reason this is a good thing, but there are probably plenty of lesser crimes committed by illegal immigrants, and knowing who they are and where they live and having a picture of them would probably help some cases get solved.

I do think the voter fraud angle is important. Illegal immigrants - people who are not citizens of a country - have no business deciding who will rule that country. But if someone could come up with a way of getting licenses to illegals while making sure they don't vote, I would be fully behind it.

I think, besides the voter fraud aspect, the big problem that people have with licensing illegals is symbolic - that it is us admitting defeat, admitting that we have a ton of people coming into our country illegally and that we aren't going to do anything about it. But that's already the case - we are already at a place where illegals are accepted as a part of life, and where we don't deport them - and many cities are passing laws making it even harder to catch and deport illegals. This is the new reality - let's just be honest about it, and help ourselves deal with it as best as we can, even if that means licenses for illegals.