Tennessee Cites 9/11 Attacks in ID Overhaul

A bill passed Wednesday will transform Tennessee from a haven for illegal immigrants seeking driver’s licenses to the state with the strictest driver’s license policy in the nation, state officials said.

The legislation, approved 96 to 2 in the House after it passed the Senate this week, now goes to Gov. Phil Bredesen, whose administration developed the bill.

“The changes we’re making today are necessary given the ongoing threat of terrorism that exists in this country,” Rep. Phillip Pinion, the bill’s sponsor, said before the vote. “If we’d had this [nationwide] the 19 hijackers would not have been able to get on the airplanes that caused the terrorist attacks of 9/11.”

The bill would prohibit illegal immigrants and foreign visitors with temporary visas from getting standard driver’s licenses. Instead, they could apply for “certificates of driving” that would be marked “Not Valid for ID” and would show only that the holder knew the rules of the road. The certificates, which would look significantly different than driver’s licenses, could not be used as identification before boarding an airplane, buying a gun or renting a vehicle.

“Protecting Tennesseans is the governor’s highest priority, and this bill gives Tennessee the strictest driver’s license policy in the nation,” said Lydia Lenker, spokeswoman for the governor.

The bill’s approval comes after more than three years of efforts to change a law altered in early 2001 to allow illegal immigrants to get licenses.

State officials think noncitizens who could not get licenses in other states have been drawn to Tennessee. Federal officials raided a Nashville driving school last month and arrested 25 illegal immigrants who they think were in the state solely to get licenses.