The policy problem is that illegal immigrants can't get a driver's license, but they'll drive anyways (and without insurance), and so when they get into a crash, everyone suffers more than they need too. So some policy people have proposed issuing state drivers' licenses without being too concerned about immigration status. After all, the Migra Feds aren't paying the state DMV for the extra labor involved in checking this stuff out. Unfortunately sensible solutions to a policy problems have led to a political problem.
The political problem is that giving illegal immigrant licenses is attacked as "rewarding" people who break the law. (Of course the people doing the whining are the sort of people who have no problem breaking the law when it comes to speed limits -- I recently encountered hundreds of them on the Ohio Turnpike.) But this issue seems to resonate with enough people that the politicians are backing away from it. We we uphold the purity of the law, while absorbing the costs of unlicensed uninsured drivers.
However, there is a solution, and, if I understand the law correctly, it doesn't involve any change in law. But it would require some action on the part of other countries.
More below the fold.
The solution:
Mexican Driver's license.
Well, Drivers' licenses from whatever country the immigrants come from. As an example look at this list of counties whose nationals can legally drive in Wisconsin using their valid domestic driver's licenses. (The choice of Wisconsin is only an exmaple. I suspect that most other states have similar laws.) In fact, every time I travel to Texas, California, etc., it's quite common to see cars with Mexican license tags. I once saw a car with a Guatemalan tag in New Orleans and another with a Mexican tag in DC. There are apparently international agreements about this. I visited Israel and rented a car, and the guy at Hertz was completely satisfied with my Maryland license I had at the time. No "international permit" required.
The agreements are the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic (1949) and the Convention on the Regulation of Inter-American Motor Vehicle Traffic (1943). So this framework as been around for a long time. Basically, immigrants should do what other foreign visitors do. Drive with a valid domestic license of their home country, and carry insurance valid for the US. I'm sure that companies like Sanborns' would be more than ready to offer US insurance to Mexican nationals "visiting the US." The only other thing needed would be for countries like Mexico to make arrangements to issue or renew driver's licenses to Mexicans Nationals visiting the US. They already so something similar by issuing consular identification documents.
Of course, acceptance of foreign licenses by US states is limited to people staying one year or less. So if a foreign national who's in the US for more than a year and driving on a Mexican license is breaking the law. On the other hand, if such a person is stopped, how does the officer know that's the case. Even if he suspects that he's dealing with an illegal immigrant, he doesn't know when the person crossed over. If the officer suspects illegal immigration, he can refer the case to the Migra.
But the whole purpose of the drivers' license and Insurance thing is to make sure that all drivers have insurance and licenses, not solve the immigration problem. And we can at least regulate what happens on the highways without having to change any laws, even if the immigration mess is still in search of solutions.