A deal on N.Y. driver’s licenses

Top state and federal officials Saturday signed off on a three-tiered structure for driver’s licenses in New York -- including Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s controversial plan to license illegal immigrants -- though the governor backed away from his earlier insistence that the document be virtually identical to that of other New Yorkers.

Spitzer agreed to mark the immigrant licenses unusable for boarding a plane or as federal identification, and to require passports and proof of state residency of all applicants -- two major changes that already are drawing fire from immigrant-rights advocates.

New York is the fourth state -- after Arizona, Vermont and Washington -- to establish an enhanced-license option that would enable people to drive into Canada without a passport.

Spitzer’s compromises appeared to win acquiescence from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

And though Chertoff made it plain that he didn’t like Spitzer’s licensing of illegal immigrants, he said he was powerless to stop it. Chertoff indicated he was pleased Spitzer was working to improve overall driver’s license security in New York.

“I don’t endorse giving licenses to people who are not here legally, but federal law does allow states to make that choice,” Chertoff said.

For his part, Chertoff got a powerful governor to commit to the federal government’s post- 9/11 Real ID effort to make regular state driver’s licenses harder to forge. New York becomes the largest state to do so at a time when several governors are balking at the plans, contending that they’re too costly and difficult to put in place.

Immigrant-rights groups said the deal could make it impossible for some to apply.

Spitzer’s move “is a lose-lose political decision that betrays his most ardent supporters and emboldens the anti-immigrant opposition,” said Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition.

But Spitzer’s Republican critics said his compromises did nothing to ease their fears that he was not only undermining security but also creating an incentive for illegal immigrants to come to New York. Half a million to 1 million illegal immigrants live in the state.