Driver's licenses dropped after 2001 bill

Did a 2001 measure make it harder for illegal immigrants to get a driver's license?

In reading up on this issue for a history of the state license requirements, Dome came across two figures cited in news stories that may shed some light on the effects of the bill.

First, on Oct. 31, 2001, the Charlotte Observer noted that between 1997 and 2001, the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles issued driver's licenses to 388,000 people who did not have a Social Security number.

Then, on Sept. 14, 2006, the Greensboro News & Record noted that the DMV issued about 167,000 driver's licenses using the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which was accepted between 2002 and 2006.

Both figures cover roughly a four-year period in which the state had different requirements for illegal immigrants seeking licenses.

News accounts from 2001 show that many illegal immigrants rushed to get licenses in the days before the taxpayer ID number was required.

Still, if the two figures are correct, the number of licenses given to people without a Social Security number dropped by more than half after the state began requiring taxpayer ID numbers.

For opponents of illegal immigration, of course, that's still 167,000 more licenses than would have been issued if legislators had adopted stricter standards in 2001, instead of waiting until 2006.