Governor Murphy’s untruths about licenses for illegals (Opinion)

Very soon, like 13 other states in the US, New Jersey will allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver licenses. Because, New Jersey.

A lot of people are nervous about this, including the feds, according to an article by Erin Vogt and David Matthau. Feds say NJ driver's licenses for all put 'people at risk' said in a written statement, “These types of laws make it easier for terrorists and criminals to obtain fraudulent documents.”

I mean, obviously.

But, as usual when it comes to laws like this, Gov. Phil Murphy is putting the needs of illegal immigrants above those of the average New Jerseyan. He answered the Homeland Security warning at an event last week where, according to the article, he stated “The more that folks can come out of the shadows and be in the sunlight, engage their neighbors, their faith leaders, their elected officials and, most importantly, law enforcement, you have a safer state for all 9 million of us.”

Huh?

What does being in the sunlight do?

I can show you a gazillion news stories about terrorists and criminals who were very much in the sunlight and engaging away with neighbors, faith leaders and law enforcement before they committed criminal acts. And then in the end, they turned out to be pretty bad dudes anyway, despite all the sunshine.

Let’s not forget that it’s way easier to get to the places where you wish to inflict harm by car than it is by bicycle. Murphy goes on to defend the new law by saying “The good news is we’ve got 13 or 14, plus the District of Colombia, to look at in terms of what’s actually happened, and the two things that have happened: the roads are safer and insurance premiums are down.”

Really? Research says something much different.

First, let’s look at the claim that insurance premiums are down.

Researchers have tried to both prove and refute this claim but have been unable to come up with many statistics or conclusions because the laws are just too new. So Murphy’s statement is simply untrue. It’s next to impossible to study the laws’ impact on insurance costs because the data is too limited.

In fact, an article called “impacts on licensing unauthorized immigrants on pewtrusts.org cites some interesting preliminary research that shows that from what little study they’ve done so far, it looks like insurance has gone UP a little bit. Says the article, “A study examining the impact of laws that prevented a person who could not demonstrate legal presence in the United States from obtaining a driver’s license showed that annual premiums for all drivers rose by an average of $17 a year, or about two percent.”

Additionally, according to that same study, a 2011 study published in the Journal of Insurance Regulation found no significant difference in insurance rates between states that require license applicants to prove they are lawfully in the country and those without such restrictions.

As far as his statement that the roads are safer since illegal immigrants have gotten bona fide driving privileges, well that’s really wishful thinking, too.

According to Pew research, It’s too early to know if that’s true either. And even if we are seeing a slight down tick in accidents, it has very little if nothing to do with the fact that they are driving legally and more to do with the fact that cars are just better and safer in general. The article states, “Improvements to automobile technology and design that increase safety and reduce fatalities make it difficult to separate the impacts of a particular licensing program from general safety advancements.”

So are these lies? Misleading statements? Pie in the sky thoughts? Wishful thinking? Hopeful predictions? It seems highly irresponsible for any elected official especially the highest one in the state to make claims like this that are misleading and irresponsible offhand remarks at best, and unproven lies at worst.

More from New Jersey 101.5:

​