REAL IDs for immigrants; fake security for all: can driver's licenses and consular IDs hold the line for immigrant rights?(FEATURE)

WITH THE FEDERAL REAL ID ACT set to begin implementation in 2008 and comprehensive immigration reform still unresolved, statewide policy battles are heating up again over providing immigrants access to driver's licenses.

In the 2006 legislative session, at least 85 bills were introduced in 28 states addressing immigrant access to driver's licenses. Meanwhile, the acceptance of the matricula consular, an identification card issued by the Mexican government, remains a live debate around the country, with policies proposed in 33 states and hundreds of municipalities that would require public officials to accept the consulate's document as a valid ID for Mexican immigrants.

While organizers and advocates agree on the importance of providing tangible benefits for embattled immigrant communities, many are divided over the potential of IDs as a progressive policy tool.

"As we continue to work on this campaign, we keep in our minds that the driver's license issue is crucial in holding the line in defending immigrants' rights," said Gouri Sadhwani, director of the New York Civic Participation Project. The project, along with the New York Coalition for Immigrants' Right to Driver's Licenses, introduced two bills in the state assembly allowing immigrants access to licenses regardless of their legal status. The coalition is now working with New York's new Democratic governor, Eliot Spitzer, to push for a better driver's license policy.

The battles to defend driver's licenses and certificates, and to protect the use of matricula IDs, have been fraught with challenges: navigating around REAL ID; responding to racialized right-wing attacks; framing a broad public message without pandering to the white-fear vote; and passing policies without criminalizing provisions such as background checks and fingerprinting.

Before 9/11, campaigns for driver's licenses had gained momentum as part of the legalization movement. Eleven states had removed restrictions regarding proof of lawful presence. In Tennessee, one of the first states to start issuing full driver's licenses without requiring a Social Security number in early 2001--more than 180,000 immigrants got their licenses.

"A lot of advocates who work on comprehensive immigration ...