Above is a map released last month by the National Immigration Law Center, a group that advocates on behalf of undocumented immigrants. It shows, in green, the increasing number of states that are making drivers' licenses available to these immigrants.
But now the law center will have to edit the map. After last week's election, the state of Oregon will not be offering driving rights to immigrants without papers.
The law that voters rejected was broadly supported in 2013 -- passed 20-7 in the State Senate and 38-20 in the House, then signed by the governor. The bill would have allowed illegal residents to obtain driving "cards," effectively licenses, after passing the regular paper and driving tests.
Supporters called it the "Safe Roads Bill" and argued that it would lead to better driver education and allow immigrants greater access to car insurance.
A signature campaign challenging the bill was organized quickly after its passage, and the popularity of the challenge last week was striking:
--- 67.43 percent of voters opposed the driving card plan, and
--- 32.57 percent approved.
In a country where any candidate or measure getting over 52 percent of a vote is said to have achieved a landslide, I find this remarkable. More than two-thirds of voters said no.
It does not seem to reflect a Republican/Democrat divide. Oregon is a blue state; its governor, both its senators and four of its five congressmen are Democrats. This was a major election, with re-elections of the governor and a senator on the line. The ballot also carried a recreational marijuana measure that passed with more than 55 percent of the vote.
New York
The Oregon results seem at odds with efforts on behalf of immigrants in New York.
Starting in January, New York City will begin issuing identification cards to illegal immigrants.
Several Democrats in the state legislature also have introduced a bill to issue NewYork State Citizen numbers that would allow people without papers to obtain drivers' licenses, apply for professional certifications, sign up for Medicaid, serve on juries, vote in local and state elections and hold elective office.
Supporters of the legislation see it as an issue of rights, rather like same-sex marriage or medical marijuana.
I don't think New York politicians have any idea how people will react to the proposed legislation. I don't know what to make of it myself.
President Obama
The president announced earlier this year that he planned to use his executive authority to make changes to immigration policy. When pressed by members of his own party, he said that he would delay making his changes -- whatever they were -- until after the election.
The Big Issue
Here are two observations that I think most of us share:
We have a large number of undocumented workers in our country. They work very hard and for not much money.
We also have a large number of young citizens whose careers are starting slowly or not starting at all. An estimated 15 percent are unemployed, and a much larger proportion are underemployed.
For all the talk about economic growth and declining unemployment, things are not going well.
If you only read in the newspapers about legislation in states like Oregon and New York, you would be tempted to conclude that illegal immigration across our southern border is the only immigration issue we face. In fact, there are many others: chain migration, H1B visas, refugees, citizenship versus green cards. I am not expert in any of these matters.
When and if we finally get around to "having a conversation" about immigration, I hope we will balance our needs as a country with the understandable wishes of many people to come here.
For starters, we need more well-educated and technical people -- trained scientists, engineers, medical researchers, inventors, artists -- who will start companies that expand our knowledge base and our economy and increase opportunities for all our people, immigrants included.
Second, we need young families. As in other developed countries, our birth rate is trending below the replacement level. Watching the long-term aging of Japan's population and its failure to open itself to new, non-Japanese immigrants should motivate us to make a better plan for ourselves. The money for baby boomers' Social Security and Medicare has to come from somewhere.
When those new children arrive, we must give them good schools, an imperative that we have avoided facing head-on for decades.
We always have understood ourselves to be a country of immigrants. It is a source of pride and, I believe, strength. Our challenge now is to handle immigration in a far-thinking way.
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