Advocates of illegal immigration have won a big victory in Illinois.

The same legislators who studiously ignore Illinois' desperate financial problems didn't leave Springfield earlier this week without taking action that is both substantive and symbolic.

They approved a new law authorizing the granting of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The legislation was passed on the strength of a false narrative — that giving driver's licenses to those in the country illegally enhances public safety.

Say what? The idea is that all those who enter the country illegally, work illegally and drive illegally desperately wish to comply with the state law mandating that motorists be insured.

It's a cleverly superficial argument.

That's not to say that some illegals won't actually buy insurance, reducing marginally the thousands of mostly legal citizen motorists who drive uninsured.

But the real effect of the legislation has little to do with insurance. This law further illustrates this country's mixed-messaging to citizens of other countries who violate our immigration law.

Don't come here illegally, the law says. But if you ignore our laws and do, there's a boatload of benefits to be had — free education, social services, work. Is it any wonder that an estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants in Illinois alone qualify for these new driver's licenses?

Foes of special privileges for illegal immigrants often are branded as anti-immigrant. Nothing could be further from the truth. This country was built on immigration — legal immigration. Every year, thousands of legal immigrants are welcomed to the American family by being sworn in as citizens.

But encouraging illegal immigration is another matter altogether, and driver's licenses for illegals will only compound the problem by encouraging more, not less, lawbreaking.