DMV issued 221k licenses using tax IDs

As many as 221,000 illegal immigrants got driver's licenses between 2002 and 2006.

Between Jan. 1, 2002, and Aug. 23, 2006, the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles required either a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is issued to all U.S. workers regardless of immigration status.

Not all residents applying with taxpayer ID numbers were illegal immigrants, but the number of taxpayer ID-backed licenses is the best approximation since the DMV does not track immigration status.

Here are the numbers of licenses issued with taxpayer IDs:

2002: 41,881
2003: 73,926
2004: 50,555
2005: 34,888
2006: 19,732

The number of licenses issued under the 2002-2006 standards is thus a little more than half the number issued under the looser standards in place from 1997 to 2001, but substantially more than it would have been if the stricter standards had been adopted sooner.

Before 2007, North Carolina licenses were valid for five years, so the 2002 licenses have already expired. Since the legislature did not recall old licenses when it got rid of the taxpayer ID number, there are roughly 140,000 licenses issued under the old standards still in use.

The last of those licenses will expire in August of 2011.

Previously: What did Kay Hagan's 2001 vote do?