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Benefits of a Secure License
- Helps Prevent Identity Theft
- Reduces Underage Drinking and Driving
- Keeps Drunk Drivers off the Road
- Combats Welfare and Medicare Theft
- Reduces Voter Fraud
- Cracks Down on Dead Beat Dads
- Helps Protect Americans from Terrorist Attacks
In Illinois Bold Borders Help Stop Visa Overstays
In October of 2007, the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles began issuing dramatically redesigned driver licenses and ID cards. The most important security enhancements is the brightly colored top border that denotes the type of license. All full term driver licenses and commercial driver licenses (CDL) have a bold red top border, while ID cards have a bold green border, and the back of the ID card is marked clearly "not for driving purposes."
Of critical importance for homeland security, Illinois has added a unique category marked by a purple border for temporary visitors (visa holders) for both driver's license and ID cards, including under 21 ID cards. Illinois is the only state that currently uses color coded licenses to denote temporary visitor status.
Illinois follows the requirements of the REAL ID Act with regard to limiting the term of the license issued to foreign visitors to the expiration of their visas.The need to limit the term and denote the license as not issued to a citizen was among the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
Temporary visitors have visas which have maximum validity terms, generally expiring in a year or two from date of issuance. However in many states, foreign visitors are able to obtain full term driver licenses, sometimes for as many as ten years; i.e, for terms much longer than they will be lawfully present under the terms of their visas. Hence, some states make it easy for foreign visitors to overstay their visas and pretend to be lawfully present, using their driver's license or state issued ID as a identity document.
When the September 11th terrorists infiltrated the United States, they entered with Saudi Arabian, German and Jordanian passports and U.S. government authorized visas. Only when they entered the United States did they exchange their potentially suspicious foreign travel documents for legitimate state issued driver licenses.
Should future foreign visitors who are also planning to be terrorists receive driver licenses in Illinois, they will be issued purple temporary licenses good for either three years or their visas term limit. A law enforcement officer examining such a license would be able to instantly tell he/she is a foreign visitor. This difference could be vitally important should a situation occur where police need to confirm identities quickly, and separate potential threats from benign passersby.
In 2007, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer suspended the practice of clearly marking for temporary licenses. Between September and October of 2007, more than 23,000 licenses not marked as temporary were issued to foreign visitors. While a potential threat to homeland security, the move was so unpopular that the public backlash forced the Governor to rescind the order and return to marking temporary driver licenses.