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Immigrant Driver ID Rejected by O'Malley
Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) directed transportation officials to comply with the federal Real ID law.
(By Rob Carr -- Associated Press)
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The governor accused the Bush administration yesterday of failing to secure the country's borders and trying to "bootstrap" a national ID system onto state driver's licenses. But he said he is not willing to risk having Maryland become a haven for undocumented immigrants from other parts of the eastern seaboard.
"We'd become an attraction to people who feel they can easily obtain a license through fraudulent means because they have one less thing to prove," he said. He said that there are public safety concerns about immigrants who would drive without insurance or a license but that he and other governors have been backed into a corner by federal policy.
Porcari had briefed the governor and officials with the Department of Homeland Security on a two-tier plan. But yesterday, Porcari told a Senate committee that the "national landscape" is changing, with Oregon and Michigan announcing plans to impose a legal presence mandate.
"That was premature," Kuo said yesterday of the two-tier proposal.
Lawmakers appear divided on the issue, with some who represent districts with large immigrant populations defending the current policy and Republicans and more conservative Democrats less tolerant of illegal residents.
Yesterday's announcement satisfied Republican lawmakers, who have pushed in vain to pass tougher immigration measures in recent years, even when Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was governor.
"When you've got a New York governor getting clubbed over the head for trying to institute what Maryland has . . . you realize we are out of sync with the rest of the nation," House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert) said.
