FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT
AWARDING DRIVER LICENSES TO ILLEGAL
ALIENS
Q: LAPD Chief Bratton says that if illegal aliens have
licenses, they will buy insurance and won't have to flee the scene of accidents
in which they are involved, is that right ?
A: If you believe that once illegal aliens have driver
licenses that they will run out and buy car insurance, then I want to sell you
the Brooklyn Bridge. If the enforcement of the law against driving without a
license can't be enforced, what makes anyone think that the law requiring
insurance can be enforced?
Q: Couldn't the DMV put some kind of mark or notation on
the license so that it couldn't be used to board
aircraft?
A: Advocates for illegal
aliens say that a special mark could be used by some persons to treat
the undocumented with scorn and ethnic discrimination" making the absurd analogy
of the Jewish Holocaust experience in having to wear a "Star of David" arm band
so as to be singled out. Perhaps illegal alien advocates would like to do
away with passports and green cards for LEGAL immigrants for the same
reason.
Q: But if
there was some kind of mark or notation on the license, wouldn't cops target
illegal aliens and discriminate against them when the license had to be
shown to them?
A: The Mayor and the L.A.
City Council already have approved the Mexican Government issued Matricula
Consular ID. The only ones who need these IDs are illegal aliens. Presenting a
Matricula ID to a law enforcement officer is a dead giveaway that the ID holder
is an illegal alien. If the Mayor, the Chief of Police, and the L.A. City
Council aren't bothered by the Matricula revealing that the holder is an illegal
alien, why would they care if a mark on a driver license revealed the
same.
Q: But if
there was some kind of mark or notation on the license, wouldn't clerks at
retail stores discriminate against illegal aliens if they had to present a
marked driver licenses for identification to purchase
something?
A: The advocates for driver
licenses for illegal aliens have consistently said that the purpose of the
license is for road safety and to be presented as identification to law officers
only -- not for identification at the check-out stand.
Q: But if there was a notation on the license, wouldn't they be
subject to being turned over to the Immigration authorities for
deportation?
A: Yes. Fear of
deportation SHOULD BE an intended deterrence to discourage illegal aliens from
illegally entering the U.S. in the first place. But of course, those who fear
such deportation could alleviate that fear by taking the bus to work like
millions of citizens do.
Q: Won't our
roads be safer if illegal aliens have driver
licenses?
A: If
the real issue was road safety, the advocates of licenses for illegals
would have no objections to licenses that have a code to identify
the license holder as undocumented. The real reason the illegal alien advocates
want unmarked licenses for illegals is to give them stealth amnesty to allow
them to blend in with the citizens.
Q: Why not allow
illegal aliens to have driver licenses if they're going to drive
anyway?
A: Because then the
message is sent that if you break the law, California will change the law. It's
like saying "whenever you don't like a law, violate it and we'll change it
for you -- have an accident, flee the scene and we'll give you a
license.
Q: Why not allow Illegal aliens to have driver licenses
so that they can get to work?
A:
Our federal laws prohibit Illegal aliens from working in the U.S. in the first
place. Giving them licenses legitimizes their illegal presence in the U.S. and
sends the message that Los Angeles welcomes law
breakers.
Q: Yeah, we know they are in the U.S. illegally, but why not give
them a break?
A: Because if you
make an exception for those already illegally in the U.S., the news travels fast
to thousands of others in Mexico and other third world countries that it is
legal to be illegal in Los Angeles and California. Millions more
will violate our immigration laws to get on the license
bandwagon.
Q: Won't illegal aliens have to buy insurance in order to get
driver licenses?
A: No. Persons taking
the driver test at the DMV must prove that the car they are using to take the
test is insured, but California does not require that you own a car in order to
obtain a driver license. As such, no proof of insurance is required for a car
you don't own.
Q: But won't illegal aliens have to show proof of insurance
when they register their cars?
A: Insurance
companies won't share their customer base information with each other let alone
with the DMV. The DMV has no way to verify a false proof of insurance slip
easily obtained in the MacArthur Park area of L.A., or generated on a home
computer.
Q: If there is a required background check for illegal aliens
including fingerprinting, won't it take the security risk out of awarding them
driver licenses?
A: It is an
oxymoronic idea to do a criminal background check on someone who has already
broken U.S. immigration law. Moreover, there is no way to get any criminal
background information on someone who may have illegally arrived to the U.S.
three weeks ago. It is noteworthy, that after 9/11, a postmortem background
check of all of the 19 terrorists who all had valid driver licenses, revealed
that they did NOT have any criminal record. This is not surprising, as there was
no criminal history on any of them in the U.S.
Q: If immigrants are identified as being illegal aliens,
won't that cause the breakup of their families if they are
deported?
A: The vast majority
of illegal alien men who enter the U.S. illegally, do so leaving their families
behind in their home country. Deporting them, will unite them with their
families.
Q: What if they already have a family in California and they
are deported. Won't that breakup their
families?
A: Family members can
leave with their deported heads-of-household to stay united.
Q: Why would it hurt to give people who are just trying to make a
living to support their families, driver
licenses?
A: It is a broad belief
that "all" illegal aliens are just trying to make a living to support their families. Just as we
have in our American society, there are those illegal aliens who are criminals
and deadbeat dads.
Q: Couldn't we just deport deadbeat
dads?
A: Good question. In
1994, California passed legislation requiring that all driver license applicants
provide their social security numbers so that deadbeat dads could be tracked
down and forced to pay child support through wage garnishment. Providing driver
licenses to illegal aliens whom California knows nothing about, virtually hands
foreign deadbeat dads a new identity that clears them of their responsibility to
the families they abandoned.
Q: Most illegal aliens are hard working, honest people. Why
punish the whole lot on account of a few bad
apples?
A: Yes, it's true
that the vast majority of illegal aliens are not a security threat, but as we
learned from 9-11, it just took 19 bad Islamic apples to murder 3,000
Americans.
Q: Come on, illegal aliens from south of our border can't be
compared to Islamic terrorists, can they?
A: We better not compare
immigrants from one another -- that would be profiling. And terrorists know
that. Terrorists who are smart enough to learn to fly airliners into high rise
buildings, are certainly smart enough to disguise themselves as Hispanic illegal
aliens and obtain driver licenses.
To watch clip on
terrorists crossing Mexican border, click here
Q: Why not allow just those "good" illegal aliens who are hard
working, honest, and looking for a better life have driver
licenses?
A: Because there is
no way to know the good illegal aliens from the bad ones. The 38,748 illegal
alien inmates (23% of the jailhouse population) in Sheriff Baca's Jail, most who obtained valid California driver licenses
before a social security number was required, are not "good" illegal aliens.
Moreover, if California grants licenses to illegal aliens from Mexico, then
soon, illegal aliens of other nationalities will sue for their "right" to also
have licenses
Q: One of the requirements for illegal aliens to receive a
driver license is that they pursue American Citizenship. Isn't this a good
idea?
A: Citizenship is a
noble goal, but there is no pressing reason that illegal aliens should be
awarded driver licenses. Aliens should first become citizens and then get
their driver licenses. In the meantime, they should take the bus to work like
millions of Americans do.