Oregonians Fight Illegal Alien License Law

Oregon taxpayers are successfully fighting back against a law—passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor months ago—to give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses by the start of 2014.

The measure, Senate Bill 833, directs the Department of Transportation to issue special driver cards to applicants who don’t provide proof of legal presence in the United States. The illegal aliens must still pass a driving test and provide “acceptable documents that prove their identity, date of birth, and residency in Oregon for more than a year.” Here’s another interesting line in the actual law: “A Social Security number will also be required if one has been assigned.”

The campaign started around the middle of last year when Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber ordered state police to begin accepting the Mexican Matricula Consular identification cards as valid ID. Shortly afterwards he vowed to pass a measure that would allow illegal aliens to obtain Oregon driver’s licenses, asserting that the undocumented would come “out of the shadows” and “contribute to our economic recovery.” The state legislature overwhelmingly approved the bill in May and the governor quickly signed it.

Under the measure state Department of Motor Vehicle offices can accept foreign identification cards issued by the consulates of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico and South Korea. The card must be “valid” and not expired, according to the new Oregon law, which advises illegal immigrants to “contact your consulate office if you need to renew it.”

This outraged an Oregon group that favors immigration control. At the very least, citizens should be able to vote on the matter. So the group, Oregonians for Immigration Reform, got busy and collected the necessary 58,142 signatures to put a referendum blocking the law onto the November 2014 ballot. This already delays the law’s implementation by almost a year because it was supposed to kick in on January 2014.

The new law granting driver privilege cards to illegal aliens will now be sidelined until after the November 2014 election, the group says on its website. If voters choose to overturn the measure, it will be dropped. If voters approve it, the law will go into effect 30 days after the election. The group cites a recent Rasmussen poll that reveals 68% of U.S. voters oppose giving illegal immigrants driver’s licenses. The survey found that just 22% favor allowing illegal aliens to get licenses in their home state.

A dozen states—not including Oregon—have laws that allow illegal aliens to obtain a driver’s license or special driving privilege card, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Among those that recently passed measures are California and Illinois. States—such as Arizona and Nebraska—that refuse to give illegal aliens licenses have been dragged into costly legal battles to preserve their laws.

Via: Judicial Watch

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Pelosi exults amid cheers from Latino illegals

Rep. Nancy Pelosi cheerfully led Spanish-language chants of “Si se puede” — or “Yes we can” — at a rally Tuesday for amnesty and immigration, but turnout for the event at the National Mall was far below the organizers’ predictions of 100,000 attendees.

The barriers at the event were set to accommodate 35,000 people, but less than half the area was occupied. Loudspeakers and a large display screen at the rear of the area were almost devoid of listeners or viewers.

The rally was held on public land during a widely hyped government shutdown that has seen the Obama administration rigidly shut tourists, property owners and even World War II veterans out of federally controlled areas. (Related: Obama OKs illegals’ march on Mall, still blocks Americans)

The disappointing turnout, and the poor turnout at a series of Oct. 5 events, will reduce lobbyists’ pressure on the GOP leadership to back a major rewrite of the immigration law, said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Progressives and business leaders, such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, are working hand-in-glove to pressure the GOP to pass an immigration rewrite. The Senate rewrite, passed in July, would provide an amnesty for 11 million workers, double legal immigration to 2 million per year, and double the number of resident non-agriculture guest-workers above 1.5 million.

Their strategy calls for unions to “rally illegals in the street, and business lobbyists behind closed doors will use the [GOP’s] fear of those demonstrations to get their corporate welfare,” Krikorian told The Daily Caller.

“But if the street demonstrations don’t pan out, that weakens the message of the business lobby,” he said.

Via: The Daily Caller
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California grants driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Thursday granting illegal immigrants driver’s licenses, in a decision immigrant rights groups hailed as a major step forward for their movement.

The country’s largest state becomes the latest to reverse course and grant legal driving privileges to illegal immigrants.

Mr. Brown, a Democrat, still has several other major immigration bills pending on his desk that he must sign or reject by Oct. 13, including one that would require localities to turn over violent criminal immigrants that federal authorities want to deport.

The new California licenses will have special markings that show they aren’t supposed to be used as identification for federal purposes, but they will allow illegal immigrants to drive legally and, advocates said, to own cars.

Those advocates say allowing illegal immigrants to become licensed means better safety and lower insurance rates for all drivers, since those illegal immigrants who choose to go through the legal process will have to take a driver’s test and follow the rules for obtaining insurance coverage.

“The governor’s signature on AB60 opens a window of opportunity unfairly closed shut to millions of Californians in 1993,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “The state Legislature and the governor recognize a driver’s license makes our roads safer and offers a practical tool any Californian, regardless of immigration status, can use to conduct everyday tasks that greatly contribute to our state’s growth.”

Via: Washington Times

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Biden in Mexico: U.S. Needs 'to Bring 11 Million Undocumented ... Out of The Shadows'

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico City on Friday, Vice President Joe Biden said that the international partnership he and President Barack Obama are seeking to build--including one between the United States and Mexico--are "literally going to shape the future for my country for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years."

Part of that future, Biden said, should involve letting “undocumented” people “out of the shadows” in the United States—terminology the administration and others  have used to describe a policy that would legalize illegal aliens and allow them to eventually become U.S. citizens.

“With regard to immigration, let me make two things absolutely clear,” Biden said in Mexico City. “It is not only from the perspective of the President, myself and the American people a matter of justice, respect, and according dignity to all people to bring 11 million undocumented men, women, and children out of the shadows, but it’s also overwhelmingly in the self-interest, the economic self-interest of the United States.”

“So I want to make it clear to you that President Obama is deeply invested in the maturation of this relationship at every level--at every level,” said Biden. “This is a different day. This is a different day.

“I wanted to be here with you because my country’s foreign policy is about more than dealing with threats, as we are dealing with in the Middle East,” said Biden. “It’s also about partnerships--partnerships that we believe, the President and I, are literally going to shape the future for my country for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years.

Via: CNS News
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California: Driver’s Licenses and the Jobs Argument

One major argument supporters of granting specially marked driver’s licenses to immigrants living in California unlawfully is the need for these individuals to use cars to get to jobs. However, there is a disconnect between this rationale for the driver’s license bill and the reality of federal law.

Assembly speaker John Perez supported AB 60, the driver’s license bill, “so they can drive to work.” Governor Jerry Brown threw his weight behind the bill saying in a statement that it would “enable millions of people to get to work safely and legally.”

Yet, Friday’s Wall Street Journal reported that the federal government is conducting a “New Hunt for Illegal Workers,” according to the headline of the story.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) is conducting so-called “silent raids” by auditing businesses in the restaurant, food processing, high-tech manufacturing, agriculture and other industries.  They review employees’ documents to determine if workers are lawfully in the country.

While California’s new driver’s license law may allow workers to drive, the feds are more interested in documents such as social security numbers. If they find fake IDs workers must quit if they cannot produce legitimate papers and employers are fined.

This can wreck havoc with many companies not to mention the workers who are out of jobs. Merely having a California driver’s license will not change the immigration status of workers as far as the federal government is concerned. If the feds enforce the reported audits there will be no jobs for the workers so the argument that people need the licenses to get to work has a huge hole in it.

But, that’s the point of the legislation, says Gov. Brown.

He accuses the federal government of “foot-dragging” on immigration reform and suggests California’s move to issue driver’s licenses will help move Congress toward adopting reforms.

Via: California Political Review

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Obama Grants Amnesty to Illegal Immigrants Without Congress

Congress hasn’t passed immigration legislation, but that hasn’t stopped President Obama from issuing directives that grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Last week, the Obama Administration issued the latest in a line of policy directives granting amnesty by default. This latest directive instructs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials not to enforce immigration laws in cases where an illegal alien is the primary provider for any minor child—regardless of the child’s immigration status—or the parent or guardian of a child who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.

In a statement about the new directive, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R–VA) declared:

President Obama has once again abused his authority and unilaterally refused to enforce our current immigration laws by directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop removing broad categories of unlawful immigrants.

In June of last year, the Obama Administration’s Department of Homeland Security issued amemorandum telling U.S. immigration officials how they should “enforce the Nation’s immigration laws against certain young people who were brought to this country as children and know only this country as home.” The move essentially served to implement major portions of the DREAM Act—which has been introduced and failed in Congress more than 30 times—by executive fiat.

Via: The Foundry

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