New York State may not be able to figure out how to deal with people fleeing high taxes or its deteriorating infrastructure, but gosh darn it, they’re going to allow illegal aliens to obtain drivers licenses. A measure to put this policy in place has now passed both chambers of the legislature and the Governor announced last night that he’s going to sign it. So… job well done? (The Hill)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will sign a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses in the Empire State, a counsel to the governor announced Monday evening.

The measure was approved by the state assembly last week and passed the Democratic state Senate on Monday, according to WKBW…

The law would make New York the 13th state to allow licenses for undocumented immigrants, according to WKBW.

Statements from the Governor’s office indicated that he had initially been reluctant to sign this into law, giving me a false sense of hope that perhaps some common sense was on display. I say “false” because the reasons for the Governor’s reluctance were anything but sensible. He cited as his major concern a fear that the information gathered from illegal aliens in the process of getting them licensed “could be used against immigrants.” Those fears were apparently allayed when the Attorney General reviewed the legislation and determined that safeguards were in place to prevent that from happening.

Yes, you read that correctly. New York is specifically crafting legislation to shield the identity of illegal aliens from immigration enforcement officials.

Aren’t these elected officials – particularly the Governor – supposed to be in the business of defending and supporting the rule of law? I mean, isn’t that basically their job? We’re supposed to working to remove lawbreaking aliens, not shielding and coddling them. I never fully appreciated the idea that Idiocracy might turn out to be a documentary.

What’s even more amazing is the way these elected officials just wrote up this bill and passed it as if it were the most normal thing in the world. I’m not sure if the Governor has noticed, but a Siena poll that was taken in March showed that 61% of New Yorkers are opposed to the plan. And we’re not just talking about conservatives and Republicans in the upstate region, either. 45% of Democrats registered their opposition, along with an overwhelming 71% of independents.

How do you pass a law with such significant, majority opposition among the public and expect to win another statewide election? Is this the final straw before the voters in New York stop sending this same pack of increasingly unhinged Democrats back to Albany every two years? We can only hope, but if history teaches us anything, it’s that the majority of voters in New York are painfully slow to learn.