The wrong driver for Michigan's economy
By Phil Power - February 21, 2008
Two days after Christmas, while Lansing was silent and largely deserted for the holiday season, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox issued an opinion indicating that only permanent
Michigan residents may get a driver's license. It appeared to say that people living here legally but on a temporary basis couldn't get one.
That opinion came in response to a request by State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge. It was clearly not produced overnight. The opinion was five single-spaced pages in length and was accompanied by 13 footnotes and case citations.Nobody I talked with in preparing this column — and I talked with plenty of people — knew Cox’s opinion was coming. But it was a bombshell.It provoked a round of furious finger-pointing with Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, his fellow Republican. Her office was responsible for implementing Cox's complex ruling. It enraged the business community, which employs nearly 400,000 aliens legally in
Michigan on valid visas. It infuriated state universities when they suddenly discovered that thousands of their students and faculty members living legally in
Michigan could not get a driver's license.
It wounded economic developers across the state who found themselves trying to explain that
Michigan really didn’t want to slam the door against international business expansion. And it provoked official protests from the governments of Japan and
India.All this from one little opinion by a state attorney general! Of course, there was a political dimension to all this. (Surprise surprise.) The subject of illegal aliens has been one of consuming interest during the presidential campaign, especially to many Republicans who want the border with
Mexico closed and all illegals chucked out. (That is, unless they employ any on the sly.)And the issue has more than just Republicans squirming: U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton got herself into trouble during the presidential debates with a series of confusing and contradictory responses when asked whether illegal aliens should get driver's licenses.Most
Lansing sources I talked with figure that Cox was doing little more than pandering to the anti-immigrant wing of the GOP. I tried to ask Cox's PR guy about this, but my call was not returned.In any event, once people returned to Lansing and the national press started saying that
Michigan was now the toughest state in the country for aliens to get drivers’ licenses, all hell broke loose.Jim Epolito, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation was politely furious. He fired off a letter to Cox noting that his troops "have been receiving frantic telephone calls, e-mails and letters from
Michigan's international business community regarding this issue. Your opinion, issued with no advanced warning to the business community and with no opportunity for a hearing or public comment, has given the international business community the perception that
Michigan is not open for business." Epolito cited more than 375,000 employees who were in
Michigan on perfectly legal visas, who could not effectively conduct their business without being able to drive a car. And Birgit Klohs, the fiery and effective economic developer for Grand Rapids, told me she'd been on the phone at all hours trying to explain what was going on to angry foreign companies considering — at least, they had been — Michigan as a possible place for expansion.Universities were just as dismayed.
University of
Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman pointed out that our universities are on the front line of bringing capable people to
Michigan. I got a call from Linda Lim, the head of the U-M’s
Southeast Asia
Center, saying that she had an office full of students in tears.Meanwhile, once the Secretary of State's office started figuring out what the opinion really meant, they ran into all kinds of trouble trying to work their way through the complex opinion. Lawyers quickly pointed out that Cox's language appeared to mean that even U.S. citizens living in
Michigan temporarily could not obtain a driver's license. Implementing rules were issued on Jan. 22, and were promptly attacked by a suit from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Cox's office complained that the Secretary of State "misread" the opinion, which is the legal equivalent of "I wrote it, but it’s your problem to figure out what I meant."
Fingers were pointed back and forth all over
Lansing, with feelings (mostly anger) running especially high between the Attorney General's office and that of the Secretary of State.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jennifer Granholm urged the legislature to find a fix to overturn the Cox opinion. Acting with unusual speed and bipartisanship, both the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation that allowed foreign citizens living temporarily in
Michigan to obtain a driver's license. The governor promptly signed the bill last Friday.
But the damage has been done. With his state facing terrible economic times, with Michigan desperate for skilled immigrant workers and students, Cox's opinion succeeded in holding our foot up to be shot with our own pistol. What's sad, embarrassing and all-too predictable about this particular episode of pandering-gone-wrong is that it was totally, and completely unnecessary. Former newspaper publisher and
University of
Michigan Regent Phil Power is a longtime observer of Michigan politics and economics, and a former president of the
Michigan chapter of the Nature Conservancy. He is also the founder and president of The Center for
Michigan, a centrist think-and-do tank. The opinions expressed here are Power’s own and do not represent the official views of The Center. Power welcomes your comments at ppower@thecenterformichigan.net.
5 Comments
Dear Mr. Bebow,
I enjoy your column every week, but please leave partisanship aside. With all due respect, The Center for Michigan won't benefit from it.
This was offensive:
"The subject of illegal aliens has been one of consuming interest during the presidential campaign, especially to many Republicans who want the border with Mexico closed and all illegals chucked out. (That is, unless they employ any on the sly.)"
I agree that A.G. Cox did a very stupid thing. I just hope that in the rush to correct his mistake our legislators are not offering licenses to illegals. That is what got Mrs. Clinton in hot water.
Drawing attention and attempting to explain a error in judgement is a worthy cause. Bringing a political comment regarding a political party into your writing is not acceptable.
Mike Cox made a grave mistake in including others in his writeup. The idea of issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants is reprehensible to the majority of Michigan citizens (of any political leaning), and that was the issue Mike Cox was attempting to correct. Including a snide remark cast a shadow on your entire writing, and makes one wonder if you are representing a political party rather than The Center for Michigan
I agree with Geoff and Bill that political comments, positive or negative, have no place in the Center for Michigan. I'd like to think that the word "Center" indicates that you are working for all without political prejudice. We may (or may not) agree with these comments, but please stay away from them and be THE organization representing all Michigan citizens and those who are here legally.
Attorney General Cox may be running for Governor but he just fired the first anti-Michigan growth cannon. And Secretary of State Land helped him light the fuse.
Many states are gaining population from the immigrants moving there. They help agriculture and in the Detroit metro area we see Asian Indians, Koreans, people of Chaldean and Arabic descent and many other groups bringing money and skills with them, and creating jobs.
It's generally agreed that our future lies in the knowledge-based and innovative areas and services to assist those areas. We can see expansions in finance, health, education, and bioengineering.
Michigan is an ideas magnet but Cox's stupid legal opinion sends a message worldwide -- immigrants not welcome in Michigan.
What further compounds the reality is that the Federal immigration processing system, which produces the documents that Cox and Land require, is seriously backlogged so that when a legally present non-citizen is in Michigan he or she may be waiting 6 months to 1 year or longer for the immigration system to process an extension or change. That immigrant may be physically without the documents that Cox and Land want them to present. An immigrant fiancee, who marries as required by law, normally waits months to get her official working papers, although she's legally present here - but her documents are with Immigration. Others submit their documents to Immigration, just for permission to travel outside of the country while they wait for their documents to be processed. This too takes about 6 months.
What Secretary of State Land and Attorney General Cox have created is an unfriendly "Catch 22" situation which is definitely BAD for Michigan, reflects poorly on our welcoming nature, and will present major barriers to our expanding that innovative and knowledge area, since if someone comes to Michigan they may legally be unable to obtain a driver's license, which often is an essential necessity in performing a job. Cox and Land should have talked to a number of immigration lawyers before they set up this stupid system. The Eternal General Frank Kelley's opinion worked for years. Why was it changed?
Attorney General Cox's legal opinion and Secretary of State Land's interpretation have managed to move Michigan backwards by about 40 years. And,the Legislative correction only dealt with a part of the problem.
I disagree with Jenks premise that we need immigrants for Michigan's economic growth. Our problem isn't immigration, but Illegal immigration. Detroit is a sanctuary city, which is a city that allows illegals to receive government services. No excuses can be made bemoaning difficulty receiving a drivers license or other i.d. when it is a Federal law violation to give an official U.S. or state identification to a citizen of a foreign country, which is what an illegal immigrant is. Additionally, Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the U.S.
Phil Powers final paragraph says Michigan is desperate for skilled immigrant workers. With an unemployment rate approaching 7.5%, this statement makes no sense.
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