Did Kay Hagan's vote in 2001 hurt or help illegal immigrants applying for driver's licenses?
That depends on who you ask. The U.S. Senate candidate has been attacked by groups that oppose illegal immigration for her vote on the provision, but supporters say it actually made it tougher for immigrants to get a license.
The debate began in the late 1990s, when state officials relaxed the standards for driver's licenses in an effort to encourage illegal immigrants to get licenses and car insurance.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Republican legislators called for the state to stop giving licenses to illegal immigrants. The Democratic leadership responded by tightening requirements, but they stopped short of making it impossible for immigrants to get a license or recalling old licenses.
Activists argue that Hagan's vote for the budget bill — and therefore the measure — helped illegal immigrants get licenses. But former state Sen. Wib Gulley, who helped author the provision, says that's incorrect and unfair.
"It actually tightened the requirements for a license," he told Dome.
More after the jump.
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The Republican bill would have made it impossible for illegal immigrants to get licenses by requiring either a Social Security number or an alien registration number given to legal immigrants. It also would have recalled old licenses and increased penalties.
As with other bills on illegal immigration, the bill essentially died in committee.
Instead, Democratic leaders inserted a provision into the state budget (Section 27.10A) that required either a Social Security number or the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is issued to all U.S. workers regardless of immigration status.
Gulley, who was in charge of the transportation section of the budget, said that the provision was intended to curb fraud and actually tightened the requirements, since not all illegal immigrants had taxpayer ID numbers.
"It was intended to provide more assurance that the person we were giving the license to was actually the person who was applying for it," he said. "It was an effort to make the requirements more restrictive and to stop fraud."
Five years later, legislators ordered the DMV to stop accepting the ID number, making it impossible for illegal immigrants to get a driver's license. (Hagan voted for that bill as well.)
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Re: What did Hagan's 2001 vote do?
Former Senator Gully, a Democrat, of course would speak this rhetoric. The simple fact of the matter is the fact that these aliens are illegally in this country; therefore, why should they have access to the rights given to the CITIZENS of this country. The bill must have not been that great in the first place or else why would they further limit the scope five years later.