Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

There is a legitimate question about whether the Public Safety Commission has the authority to establish checkpoints to stop drivers to review their licenses, vehicle registrations and proof of insurance. That question will be answered by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

The larger and more important issue, however, is whether the Department of Public Safety should set up such checkpoints — even if has the legal authority to do so. Checkpoints would invite racial profiling and shift immigration enforcement — a responsibility of the federal government — to state and local officials.

It's not difficult to figure out that the true goal of the public safety commission is to crack down on illegal immigrants. In addition to asking for an attorney general's opinion to validate statewide checkpoints, the commission imposed sweeping new rules in August barring illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses. To obtain or renew a Texas driver's license, applicants must first prove they are here legally.

That will not prevent illegal immigrants from driving. With or without licenses, they will get in their cars and drive to reach their jobs, their children's schools, hospitals and other destinations. Those problems cry out for Congress to craft comprehensive immigration reform that would include a guest worker program.

There is no denying that Texas has a problem because of weak or botched border security and the ineffective response by the federal government to that reality. There are an estimated 1.5 million illegal immigrants living in Texas, and many are driving without licenses or insurance. That puts legal residents at greater risk of hit-and-run collisions when they are involved in accidents with unlicensed or uninsured illegal residents. There is a problem, too, with too many illegal immigrants charged with crimes slipping through the cracks.

Nonetheless, state government has no business making either front-door or back-door immigration policy. That job belongs to the federal government. Leaving it up to Texas law enforcement opens the door to widespread racial profiling that, thankfully, was outlawed by the Legislature several years ago. There is little doubt that Hispanic motorists — including legal citizens and residents — would be targeted by checkpoints.

Obviously, the attorney general must answer a legitimate request for an opinion. In response, 14 legislators have written to Abbott urging him to ignore the public safety commission. Those lawmakers believe that the commission is overreaching its authority with a plan to set up checkpoints.

We remind those lawmakers that while Abbott is in charge of issuing opinions, it is the Legislature that sets public policy. If lawmakers are unhappy with the commission's behavior, there are options available to stop undesirable public policy by state agencies.

Establishing checkpoints would move Texas backward to a time when drivers were stopped based on race or ethnicity. It also would create another unfunded mandate for local officials, who would have to divert resources from other duties to staff checkpoints and conduct stops.

Checkpoints are not the answer; comprehensive immigration reform by Congress is the solution.