This is perhaps the stupidest thing I've heard about coming out of the California legislature. What a bunch of kooks!

Illegals to be legal behind the wheel

  • Amid the backdrop of the gubernatorial recall election, the California Assembly passed a controversial measure that will make as many as 2 million illegal aliens legal behind the wheel.

    Following two hours of rancorous debate in both English and Spanish, lawmakers approved the bill by a 44-30 vote and sent it back to the Senate for consideration of amendments. The Senate is expected to agree to the amendments and give final approval as early as today.

    Although he vetoed similar legislation twice before, embattled Gov. Gray Davis has promised to sign the measure if it reached his desk. Aides to the governor told KTXL his earlier concerns over law enforcement had been addressed.

    "The governor is glad it's going to happen,'' spokesman Russ Lopez told the San Jose Mercury News. "This is a huge population that contributes so much and they pay taxes and they already drive."

    Republicans accused Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante – the leading Democratic challenger on the recall ballot – of flip-flopping on the issue to curry favor with Hispanics ahead of the Oct. 7 vote.

    "Why is he willing to put the state at risk, the country at risk, the electorate at risk? It's his last grasp at keeping the governorship," KTXL quoted Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy as saying. The Republican claimed the bill would "open the road" to a movement to reclaim parts of the southwestern United States for Mexico.

    Others expressed concern over voter fraud.

    "Why don't we just rescind the need for citizenship? That's where we are going with this," echoed Assemblyman Doug La Malfa of Biggs.

    The Mercury News reports that among Republican gubernatorial candidates Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks both oppose the driver's license legislation, while Peter Ueberroth favors it.

    The bill, SB 60, will allow undocumented immigrants to use federal taxpayer identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers to apply for driver's licenses, even though the Internal Revenue Service has said that taxpayer numbers are "not valid for identification outside the tax system.''

    Two other forms of identity are required of applicants, but these can include birth certificates and IDs issued by foreign governments. Mexican consulates issue matricula consular cards that are most often used by illegals to open bank accounts.

    The bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles, claims it will make the state's roads safer since illegals who routinely drive without a license will now be required to receive proper training, testing and car insurance.

    One case in point: Concepcion Lopez of San Jose told the Mercury News she takes a risk every time she drives without a license to her part-time job and to adult-education courses.

    "It's unjust that we can't drive. Most of us are honest people who have to work to raise our kids," the paper quotes Lopez as saying in Spanish. "I'm nervous every day."

    Lopez was among the dozens of immigrants on hand for the debate who applauded the passage of the bill from the balcony of the Assembly.

    Other supporters of the measure argue the licensing of illegal aliens would help law enforcement keep track of drivers in criminal cases because their photos, thumbprints and addresses would be recorded and added to a database.

    As WorldNetDaily reported, lawmakers on the federal level are debating the wisdom of foreign embassies issuing identification cards to illegal aliens in the U.S. Critics of the cards see many pitfalls, including national-security risks.

    "I don't see any issue that is potentially as dangerous to our sovereignty and provides tremendous opportunity for terrorism in this country than this form of documentation,'' said Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., at a recent congressional hearing.

    WorldNetDaily reported immigration-reform advocates blame states and local governments, "under pressure from foreign governments, some employers, and open-borders activists," for weakening homeland security by adopting and practicing policies that provide "safe haven" for illegal aliens.

    The Federation for American Immigration Reform says policies such as granting illegal immigrants driver's licenses are at conflict with border-security measures.

    "While the federal government has not yet slammed shut the doors to illegal immigration," says Dan Stein, executive director of FAIR, "it is the states and local governments that are rolling out the welcome mat for illegal aliens once they are here."


Also:

Davis to 'legalize' illegal aliens today

  • Rather than waiting for the weekend as originally planned, embattled California Gov. Gray Davis will sign into law a bill allowing more than 2 million illegal aliens to apply for and receive state driver's licenses today, according to a report in a Spanish-language daily newspaper.

    La Opinion reported Davis will sign the legislation at 6 p.m. local time at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Lincoln Park, Los Angeles.

    A spokesman for Davis' office would neither confirm nor deny the governor's intent to sign the bill Friday evening. But earlier reports said Davis hadn't planned to sign the bill until sometime over the weekend.

    "We've not yet set the agenda," the spokesman, who did not identify himself, told WorldNetDaily.

    Davis, a Democrat, has twice vetoed similar legislation over law-enforcement concerns, but they were reportedly addressed in newer versions of the bill that passed both Houses this week.

    Davis and party leaders in the state Assembly and Senate say the law is necessary to ensure public safety. Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, who has fought for the measure for five years, said it would ensure that all drivers would be trained, tested and insured.

    Immigrant-rights groups also back the measure.

    "We believe everybody who drives a car should have a driver's license. It's better for all of us if all drivers are properly licensed and insured. It makes us all safer. Undocumented people are going to be driving, regardless if they have a license. So let's give everybody one," Michele Waslin, senior immigration policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, told WorldNetDaily.

    But law-enforcement sources who spoke anonymously said the safety and training argument is "bogus."

    "The California Highway Patrol and other police recognize driver's licenses from all 50 states, as well as from Canada and Mexico," the source told WorldNetDaily. "So why can't Mexican illegals get a license in their own country first? Why do they have to have one from California? It's a bogus argument."

    Reports said the new law would not take effect until January. That may give opponents enough time to reverse Davis' signature.

    La Opinion and Reuters reported Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed to fight the law's implementation if he wins the Oct. 7 recall election.

    "I am an immigrant," the Austrian-born film star, who became an American citizen in the mid-1980s, said in a statement. "I waited for 10 years to get my American citizenship and I know first-hand how immigrants who come to this country and obey the laws have struggled to achieve their dreams. I am pro-immigrant. But we should not invite fraud or undermine law enforcement."

    The San Jose Mercury News reports that among the other Republican candidates state Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks also opposes the driver's license legislation, while Peter Ueberroth favors it.