Anti-Terror Follies

Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has introduced legislation that will require states to make sure they’re providing driver’s licenses only to American citizens and legal residents. It’s an anti-terror measure: the laxity of license-issuing offices, says Sensenbrenner, is a magnet for foreign terrorists, criminals, home grown identity thieves and illegal aliens. His bill is supported by the Bush Administration and has already passed the House; but does it really solve the problem it is intended to solve?

Would it, for example, have stopped Roberto Aburto, his wife Azalia Gaona, Miriam Palestina and Rutilio Marquez of Port Isabel, Texas? They were arrested last week for selling fake Social Security cards and green cards to three Iranian men trying to enter the United States. If the Iranians had been terrorists and the scheme had not been uncovered, they would have been able to get around the new legislation with their forged cards.

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