Recently, many news outlets have published erroneous articles targeting the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration and Responsibility Act, especially Section 656 concerning state- issued drivers' licenses and their acceptance as proof of identity by the federal government.

Some of these untruths have caused public outcry notably the controversial use of the driver's license as a "national ID card."

Section 656 does not require states to develop a "national ID card," and in no way does the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) condone or support the establishment of such a document.

We are in the business of developing and improving the security features of your state-issued driver's license and/or identification card. Our goal is to keep unsafe drivers off the road not to create a "paper trail" of your comings and goings.

Currently there is no foolproof identification system preventing individuals from fraudulently obtaining a drivers license or identification card. But by producing the most tamper resistant document possible, we hope to bring order to this chaos.

And unless we maintain the document's integrity, unscrupulous individuals will still be able to obtain multiple licenses and assume the identity of anyone they want, even you!

We stand firm on the premise that fraudulent drivers' licenses threaten the lives and identity of everyone.

We want to protect the qualified law-abiding citizens from having someone steal their identity and make certain all motorists have the proper authorization to operate an automobile on our highways.

There is no law requiring your driver's license to be your principal form of identification. But today, business, industry and the American public accept and require your driver's license as a valid and reliable document.

Therefore, requiring proof of the validity of one's Social Security Number prior to receiving a license is paramount in increasing document security and protecting all motorists.