Mickey Kaus suggests that the solution to the illegal aliens problem may be to separate the functions of driver licensing and identification by issuing driver licenses to illegals but also having the federal government issue a national ID card. Kaus asks rhetorically whether such a proposal would diminish support in the Latino community for driver licenses for illegals, or whether it would be “a good idea for an Austrian whose father was a Nazi to make this somewhat authoritarian and un-American proposal.”

I think it would be a bad idea for Arnold to propose such a thing, but not for the reasons Kaus suggests.

Kaus is right that national IDs do have an “un-American,” if not authoritarian ring to them. This alone does not necesarily make them a bad idea, of course, but it does mean that they are politically unfeasible, particularly if their only justification is to undo a bad law recently passed in one state. Arnold or anyone else would have a hard enough time convincing residents of his own state to go along with the idea; nationally, it’s D.O.A.

This does not mean, however, that the state of California itself cannot separate the functions of driving and identification its own. It can. First, it must get rid of S.B. 60, which would provide not only driver licenses, but also state IDs, to illegal aliens. This can be accomplished by signing the petition to subject SB 60 to a referendum, and then voting “no” (that’s right, “no”) on the referendum itself. Once this dreadful bill is gone, we can then adopt a two-tiered licensing system. Here’s what I envision:

1. Issue the familiar yellow licenses and ID cards to anyone who can prove to the DMV’s satisfaction that he is a U.S. citizens or permanent (i.e. lawful) resident alien.
2. Issue licenses of a different color to those who are either here on a temporary visa, or who cannot / will not prove to the DMV’s satisfaction that are here lawfully. This license would cover all the same non-commercial classes (or commercial, if a work visa was provided) as does the traditional citizen/resident license. However, in addition to having a different color, the alien license would have an additional field that either states the expiration date of the holder’s visa, or states clearly that the holder’s lawful residency was not established.
3. Amend the interstate compact, if necessary, to provided that states which are parties to the compact must recognize all licenses whose holders have established lawful residency, but may choose to dishonor any licenses issued to those who have not.
4. Most importantly: increase the penalties for driving without a license. A $100-200 fine is barely enough to keep licensed drivers out of the carpool lane; it certainly won’t be enough to get scofflaws who ignore immigration laws to apply for licenses just because they can.

Once “my” licensing scheme passes [mostly mine, but not completely - I got the idea of a different colored license from Andrew], I’m sure that all those illegal aliens will be thrilled to head out to the DMV and get those newfangled driver licenses so they can drive here legally without falsely implying that they can be here legally. What say you?

UPDATE: Mickey responds, stating that the alien license “would practically be a neon sign announcing ‘I am an illegal immigrant’” and suggests no one would apply for it. That depends on the circumstances. They might well apply for such licenses if the laws against driving without a license are stiffened, while police and the DMV are prohibited from handing over people to the INS solely because their license stated that they haven’t established legal residency (which is the samething all licenses will mean if SB 60 is allowed to take effect). INS is a different story, but then again, one might expect the illegals to “lose” their licenses if asked for them - just as they tend to “lose” their nonexistent green cards. Also, since the off-color license would only state that the person has has not proven lawful residency, and not that unlawful residency is established or even suspected, it’s a safe bet some U.S. citizens - the Tinfoil Hat Brigade, mostly - might avail themselves of the privilege as well.