On Tuesday, the Illinois legislature passed a bill to allow state residents without legal status to obtain a three-year renewable driver’s license. The law will create tens if not hundreds of thousands of newly licensed drivers. The bill, which awaits the Governor’s promised signature, will make Illinois the third state after New Mexico and Washington to allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. (Utah allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driving privilege cards.)

Although the bill could improve the lives of potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants, debate over the measure was concerned more about public safety than immigration. As proponents of the bill noted, licensed drivers are typically insured drivers (which could bring everyone’s insurance rates down). In a state where unlicensed immigrant drivers were estimated to cost $64 million in damage claims, ensuring that all drivers pass necessary driver’s training and testing makes the state’s roads safer. Indeed, as Lake County Sheriff Mark C. Curran (R) noted:

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