'Foreign?' 'Suspicious!'

Spurred on by post--September 11, 2001 fears, more than a dozen states, from Colorado to Delaware, have passed or are considering restrictions on issuing driver's licenses to noncitizens. Some, like Georgia, Minnesota and New York, may tie license expiration dates to the expiration of immigration papers, as Florida, New Jersey and Kentucky do now. Florida's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles now sends records of all its transactions to the Federal Bureau of Investigation every night. A Michigan bill would authorize DMV staff to contact federal authorities if there is "reasonable cause" to believe an applicant is an illegal alien.