Persuasive Essay

Illegals Behind the Wheel

            Who likes to drive without having a driver's license? Most of the people do not like to drive without having a valid driver's license because they know that it can lead to many penalties. The penalties for driving without a valid license vary from country to country and from state to state. In most of the countries, driving without valid license can cost lots of money and in some cases jail sentence. Getting license in the United States is little difficult as compare to some other countries, such as; India, Mexico and many more. In the United States, if someone wants to get a driver's license needs valid residency proof, fee and needs to pass the written and driving tests. Especially for the illegal immigrants, it is very hard to get a driver's license. According to Lornet Turnbull's article published on June 22, 2013 in 'The Seattle Times', '' 10 states now have laws that allow immigrants who are in the country illegally to apply for driver's licenses, and 11 other states are considering such legislation."  (www.seattletimes.com). Allowing illegal immigrants to have a driver's license is one of the major controversies in the United States. Illegal immigrants should be allowed to have a driver's license because it will increase government income, provide safety and benefit law enforcement.

            Government revenue plays an important role to boost the economy. Every government always needs money for the development of their people. If the United States will allow illegal immigrants to get driver's license, it will generate extra income. For example, in California for new driver's license, a driver license application fees is $33 and for duplicate license is $27 (www.dmv.ca.gov). If there are about 50,000 illegal immigrants in California, the income will increase by $1,650,000. The government will make get more money from the driving tickets too.

Government is already making lots of money from the tickets. The red light ticket in California is about $500. On the other side, some people say that if illegal will get drivers license, they may also ask for other benefits from the government.  However, the fact is that illegal immigrant also pays taxes. "As Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia has reported, in 2006 an estimated 8 million illegal immigrants—up to two thirds of the total—paid taxes, including both income taxes and Medicare and Social Security taxes. Indeed, revenue from illegal immigrants is estimated at $11 billion a year to social security alone.'' (www.reason.com).

            Allowing driver's license to illegal immigrants will also provide safety to the nation. Many illegal people are already driving without their license in almost all the states. Most of the people do not even know the driving rules of the states. If they will allow getting license, they have to pass the written and driving tests. These tests will teach them understanding the rules of roads. This will also help keep bad drivers off the road. According to the report present on Kcra News, in the beginning of January 2015, 39,000 undocumented people have received their licenses, and about 307,000 undocumneted people have taken exams. (www.kcra.com). As per the report, it will make Californians road little more safer and may reduce accidents. Some people oppose that it may make the illegal's to drive anywhere in the country and may increase illegal population. Offering license to illegal immigrants will not increase illegal population if there will be a tight border security. Instead of opposing illegal's driver license, government needs to find the means to control people crossing the borders.

            Giving license to the illegal immigrants will be beneficial for law enforcement. Some illegal people commits crime and they are never been caught because there is no way to get their information. According to Immigration Policy Institute, in 2013, approximately there are about 41.3 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States (ww.immigrationpolicy.org). If they apply for the license, they have to submit their residency proof and their photo. It may help law enforcement officials to identify and deport the criminals out of the country. It will also make the immigrants officials work easy to track on illegals because their information filed in the D.M.V. database. This will also help to make the right estimation of the number of illegal immigrants in the United States.

            Finally, providing driver license to the illegal immigrants is a challenging issue in most of the states in the United States. It will help the economy to grow because government will be able to make additional income from the illegal's license. It will also boost auto insurance companies and auto sale industries. It will reduce number of accidents due to the lack of knowledge of driving rules. It will make immigrant official easy to arrest the illegal criminals. It will also simulate the economy because government officials have to hire more people for D.M.V's. Therefore, illegal immigrants should be allowed to have a driver's license.