New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday he was abandoning a plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, but said that the federal government had “lost control” of its borders and left states to deal with the consequences.
“I have concluded that New York state cannot successfully address this problem on its own,” Spitzer said at a news conference after meeting wtih members of the state’s Congressional delegation.
Spitzer said overwhelming public opposition led to his decision.
The governor introduced the plan with the goal of increased security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring immigrants “out of the shadows.” Opponents charged Spitzer would make it easier for would-be terrorists to get identification, and make the country less safe. Many New Yorkers agreed with them.
About 70 percent of New Yorkers oppose the license plan, according to a Siena College poll of 625 registered voters released Tuesday. The poll, conducted Nov. 5-8, had a sampling error margin of 3.9 percentage points.
Last month, Spitzer sought to salvage the license effort by striking a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to create three distinct types of state driver’s licenses: one “enhanced” that will be as secure as a passport; a second-tier license good for boarding airplanes; and a third marked not valid for federal purposes that would be available to illegal immigrants and others.
Debate over the issue has spilled into New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Clinton has been criticized by her Democratic and Republican rivals for her noncommittal answers on the subject. She has said she sympathizes with governors like Spitzer who are forced to confront the issue of immigration because the federal government has not enacted immigration reform. She has not taken a position on the actual plan offered by Spitzer.