New Yorkers Rebel Against Drivers Licenses for UndocumentedRandy Shawbyline‚ Oct. 24‚ 2007New York City is home to millions of recent immigrants, but racist, anti-immigrant attitudes still prevail in much of the state. This reality became clear in the wake of Governor Elliot Spitzer’s decision to grant drivers licenses without proof of legal status. Polls show 72% of New Yorkers opposing Spitzer’s action, and the once-popular Governor has seen his popularity ratings plunge since he took a common sense action to help undocumented immigrants. While CNN’s Lou Dobbs and other opponents of Spitzer’s action claim that the Governor has opened the door to terrorism, Latino immigrants are not a group typically associated with such acts. Opposition to immigrant drivers’ licenses in New York, as in California, is really about racism, and its persistence even in the bluest of states. |