Driver's license bill advances Way to go! Forget about California, It's time for Massachusetts to lead.
OK, now explain to me why exactly this is a good idea? The bill will never pass here anyway...not unless the Massachussetts version of MeCHA passes Finneran a large quantity of small, unmarked bills that is...
Don't recall, but I do know that the NJ DMV issued several licenses to 9/11 terrorists after being hoodwinked by phony documents purchased in Arab neighborhoods. It's pervasive in all immigrant communities. I seriously don't know what the solution is. Crack down on the phony papers business (next to impossible) or just let anyone & everyone get licenses for whatever reason (not smart in a post-9/11 USA).
Well, maybe they should've thought about that before they decided to, you know, break the law by entering our country illegally. Hence the term "illegal immigrant". You do know what the word "illegal" means, don't you?
Illegal immigrants pay taxes, they contribute to the society and the national economy in dollars of tens of billion...why punish them because of a handful of bad apples? Without illegal immigrants' contribution, USA collapses overnight.
You are right, they should have eaten and drunk until they couldn't move, and then calmly debated if they should cross the deadly 140 degree desert or not, using the logical reasoning skills they learned from Boston College.
No-one was holding a gun to their heads--they chose to break US laws of their own free will. And in any event, you can definitely "eat and live" without a car--especially in inner cities with good public transportation systems, where many illegal immigrants live. I know plenty of people who don't have cars, and they get along just fine. Hell, I travel all over Boston 4-5 days a week, and I don't have a car. Migrant farm workers might have more of a case but then, they're still here illegally.
Not all illegal immigrants live in inner cities, what would you propose the transportation be for them?
Except, for example, the US-sponsored-government/paramilitary soldiers, who roll through their rural village-cum-battleground and imprison/cap anyone they suspect of 'collaborating' with insurgent rebels. Followed shortly by the insurgent rebels, who then kidnap/cap anyone they suspect of 'collaborating' with the government/paramilitary soldiers. Or vice versa. You see, some of these people literally have had 'a gun to their heads', or they've been in places where people get the bullet in their head; in my book, that's a pretty solid reason to head for the land of plenty, illegal or not. Then, there's the ones who have had the figurative but very real gun of poverty, landlessness, lack of education and social services, and mass unemployment held to their heads (and if you think our policies have nothing to do with this, boy are you wrong.) They can let themselves - and their families - die or maybe become criminals out of desperation there on the land, or they can make the incredibly dangerous trip north. So yeah - it's their choice. Just what would you do in their situation?
Any legislation meant to shut off the flow of illegal migrant workers would be immediately stuffed by Congressmen from Big Agriculture states (in fact, I've heard of it being done before, though I've got no citations to rely on, just memory), because Big Agriculture would be way up Shit Creek without them. And I might add, if that didn't add up to enough tacit support for illegals right there, then NYC legislators would pick up the slack. Without subsistence-wage illegal immigrants working for the delis, no one in Manhattan would be able to get their lunches delivered, and productivity would collapse in a week.
You'd figure that States Rights Small Government Paleocon Black Helicopters With United Nations Troops Are Fluoridating The Water Supply conservatives would like this bill. A state should be able to issue a driver's license to my cat if that state's DMV feels like it. The 10th amendment does not say anything about not issuing drivers' licenses to cats. Having states enforce immigration laws is yet another unfunded federal mandate. Of course, these same conservatives would enforce our immigration laws with some Daisy Cutters in Nogales, Laredo & Mexicali. But as long as it's the federal government mowing down the Mojados with 50's and no state funds are spent. Under the old cliche of "Think globally, act locally", most Mojados I have met are pretty good drivers; in sharp contrast with a US-born mom driving a minivan on black ice while talking on a cell phone and yelling at her 5 kids in the back.
Actually, I think the problem with this stems from the fact that we use our driver's licenses also as a form of legal identification. I hate to create more red tape, but I think it would make sense to issue separate identification cards to US citizens (well, passports already serve that purpose, but we need something like that to identify US citizens) and take away some of the importance placed on the drivers license as a form of identification (especially for getting on a plane). Other countries in the world have separate ID's. Spain, for example, has a DNI card (social security identification card, basically) which is completely separate from a drivers license. The DNI is used primarily for identification. So maybe the problem is with the system and not the fact that aliens (illegal or not) can get drivers licenses. Especially because many of the jobs these aliens take (landscaping, driving big trucks, etc...) driving is an essential part of the job description.