It has been debated and argued that immigrant rights should not even exist for an illegal immigrant, as they have no legal authority to reside in the United States. Many politicians and organizations have released official statements declaring that giving illegal immigrants licenses and identification cards is actually a threat to national security and as such, should never be allowed.

Still others counter this, stating that giving an illegal immigrant the right to have an identification card or driver’s license. It has also been maintained that by extending immigrant rights to allow an illegal immigrant to have an identification card, police would have an easier time of locating and identifying people who either are unsure or are unable to communicate their identities; this would also apply to an illegal immigrant whom might falsely identify himself by claiming a name that is not consistent with the name on their identity card.

For the most part, it is generally agreed that any person over the age of 16 should have an identification card. In fact, in many states, being without some sort of identification is considered a misdemeanor. Yet, there are few cities and states that will grant identification cards and driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. 

While the REAL ID Act, passed in 2005, has yet to go into practical application, and has already sent critics into a fervor concerning some of the law’s specifics. Furthermore, individual states have vowed refusal to follow this piece of legislation as it reads. The Rearing and Empowering America for Longevity against acts of International Destruction Act, as it is known in full, has come under fire for the new restrictions and qualifications it would impose on all driver’s license holders.

For the majority of Americans, a chief point of concern is that review of driver’s licenses will involve sharing of sensitive information across state lines and storage of that information in a central database that, if exploited, could allow hackers to access Social Security numbers and other forms of identification that are critical to keep secure. Coupled with this fear is the assertion that the REAL ID Act does not spell out the limits of how driver’s licenses may be used, and so identity checks at machine-readable terminals for mundane tasks might not only be inefficient, but a threat to privacy, as the federal government could theoretically track one’s movements based on use of one’s driver’s license.

Meanwhile, for illegal aliens, there are other, more prominent concerns. A new requirement for obtaining a driver’s license under the REAL ID Act is proof of a person’s legal right to live in the United States. Under this law, an illegal immigrant could not only be refused a driver’s license, but also be subject to the discovery that he or she is not a legal resident; this could lead directly to his or her deportation.

Therefore, police officers charged with the scrutiny of state-issued driver’s licenses may also be charged with a double duty: protecting and serving American civilians and helping to usher illegal aliens out of the country. Understandably, many people who support the efforts of illegal immigrant workers in the United States would be vehemently opposed to such a measure.

Even now, driver’s licenses are an uncertain prospect for many illegal aliens. Less than 25% of the individual fifty states support the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants – even in some of those states that do support driving privileges for illegal aliens, there are separate ID cards created specifically for that purpose. Utah, for example, issues such a “Driver Privilege Card” for the legal or illegal immigrant who does not possess a Social Security number, yet regardless of what effects the REAL ID Act has, as much as 75% of Americans are against the issuance of driver’s licenses for illegal aliens.

 In fact, recognition of illegal immigrant driving privileges (and/or waffling on the subject) has actually hurt some politicians in their campaigns. Hillary Clinton, for one, gained much notoriety for being unprepared for a question on the subject of driver’s licenses for illegal aliens in a public forum during the 2008 presidential campaign. 

Some confusion as to what rights should be afforded to illegal immigrants in the United States may actually stem from the confusion of the general public about what rights are afforded to its citizens, in contrast with the rights that are afforded to residents devoid of legal citizenship. As the label suggests, illegal aliens are not legal citizens of the United States. Nonetheless, the idea that an illegal alien is not meant to have any civil liberties whatsoever is a contradiction of the terms under which the United States was founded.

While citizens are entitled to privileges that no other class of resident can touch, there are basic rights that apply even to illegal immigrants. However, throughout American history, courts and other official bodies have sought to prevent illegal alien groups from realizing their legal potential, so to speak. The following are considerations on what rights illegal immigrants should be afforded, and in turn, what rights should not be afforded, but are yet taken advantage of by undocumented foreigners and their employers:

The issuance of public benefits have prompted frequent criticism of immigration reform and immigration law, revolving around the idea that deportation policies do not go far enough in protecting American interests. The people who draw these criticisms point to poor, unemployed illegal aliens and accuse them for hogging welfare monies, or for those who do work, Social Security benefits.

However, barring instances of fraud, an illegal alien will not be legally able to collect welfare assistance, and furthermore, while he or she may contribute to the Social Security program, without a Social Security card or lawful permanent residence, the odds of him/her collecting on that “investment” are slim.

The allowance of legal rights to illegal immigrant comprises one of the biggest arenas of discussion in the United States judicial system. In fact, several cases involving what liberties illegal aliens are afforded under the United States Constitution have gone to the Supreme Court, and the majority decisions overturned discriminatory statutes that sought to deny them these liberties.

It must be noted that the Constitution applies for all residents of the United States of America, not just citizens. Specific court cases have illuminated this principle, ruling, among other things, that an illegal alien is protected by the Bill of Rightshabeas corpus, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, especially as it applies to the free public education of illegal immigrant children.

Possibly the greatest draw for employing illegal immigrant labor stems from the fact that they are not required to receive minimum wage. Often, these types of jobs are service oriented or manual labor, and as such, can be easily hidden from audits and inquiring parties. Illegal immigrants maintain no specific rights in requesting minimum wage and their focus in avoiding deportation results in low-paying and even dangerous jobs. Many Americans cite the illegal immigrant population as a detriment to citizens finding gainful employment, however, the types of jobs that illegal immigrants occupy often fail to attract American labor.

Although the argument remains that illegal immigrants should not be entitled to any specific set of rights due to their illegal status, certain exemptions require consideration to insure the safety of the American border and general populace. One such consideration that often receives a high amount of debate is the granting of identification cards to illegal immigrants. If the federal legislature can come up with a plan to allow illegal immigrants to receive an identification card without facing automatic deportation, the safety of American citizens would automatically grow.

The primary worry concerning undocumented immigrants revolves around the inability to know what type of people are entering the nation. These individuals could be criminals, gang-members, or terrorists.

Potentially, both American citizens and illegal immigrants could be feeling what some perceive to be the ill effects of the REAL ID Act. The measure, passed by Congress under controversial circumstances, would link driver’s licenses with a national database, creating a de facto national ID system.

A majority of the American populations are perceived to be critical of this law, which has yet to go into full effect, citing concerns about the security of their confidential information over interstate connections and within a central, susceptible means of storing specific information. Illegal immigrants and their advocates, meanwhile, decry the REAL ID Act’s requirement of legal status to get a driver’s license, which could effectively turn police officers into immigration officials in the event a detainee is found to be an unlawful resident of the United States.

If and when states do adhere to REAL ID provisions, this will be a real issue for illegal immigrants. Until that point, though, there are already obstacles for undocumented aliens who seek driving privileges. For one, most states do not offer driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, and even those that do offer driving privileges may insist on issuing separate cards that allow for separate driving rights for foreign-born applicants. Furthermore, the American public is currently decided against issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants; as much as 75% of Americans are in favor of denying them to illegal aliens.