If Congress had mandated that the States not give driving privileges to illegals they would have been stepping all over the Constitution because since it is not mentioned in the Constitution, this is clearly one of those rights reserved for the States. Instead, Congress has said that if you give licenses to illegals we will not accept drivers licenses from any of your citizens as Federal ID for the purposes of entering Federal Buildings or boarding aircraft (interstate commerce). They have struck a nice balance with states still having the power to do as they please, but with consequences.
There is a huge difference between allowing an illegal to drive and buy insurance with a drivers certificate that is clearly marked "not valid for identification" and giving him a drivers license which is the defacto national id and which makes him nearly indistinguishable from real citizens including making it very easy to vote.
My preference would be to deport them, but this is at least a step in the right direction. And Sensenbrenner meant it primarily as a National Security measure. Recall that several of the 9/11 Terrorists used drivers licenses to board jets.
Hmm. Thanks for that POV. That would put it in a slightly different light if so.
That's not all that he said. He indicated at one point that he didn't like drivers obtaining a license from another state to avoid paying for bad driver points on their first license. First, this is ridiculous since insurance companies can check for that. Second, it is meant to further tighten controls on citizens, not illegals.
The main problem with this type of ID is that it requires checkpoints and roadblocks to work. There are plenty of illegals driving without licenses right now and giving citizens a new license will only push them further from integration into society.