Friday, January 09, 2015

Illegal Alien Driver's Licenses in California Draw Opinions from Both Sides

By Douglas V. Gibbs

In an attempt to desensitize America's opinion regarding illegal immigration, and in a move that adds ammunition to the argument that illegal aliens live among us and work beside us, California has become the latest of a number of States that have made effective laws granting driver's licenses to people that reside in California, but entered the United States without going through the legal processes.  Other States that grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens include Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.  Oregon had such a law in place, but the voters repealed the law in the 2014 mid-term election.

Now that California has joined the list of States allowing Driver's Licenses for Illegal Aliens, effective January 1, 2015 for a law originally passed in 2013, the lines for a license throughout California at Department of Motor Vehicles offices have been longer than usual, often creating a wait-time of hours.  The delay for the implementation of the law from 2013 until January of 2015 was to allow DMV to prepare for the change in policy.

A.B. 60, now that it has gone into effect, has become a controversial law drawing opinions from both sides of the immigration issue.  Demonstrators against the law emerged at both DMV offices, and the offices of their State legislators.  While supporters of the law call it an opportunity to enhance fairness, and improve traffic safety, those that stand against the law denounce it as criminal violation against federal immigration law, and consider allowing licenses to illegals as being an action rewarding the border-crossers for their unlawful behavior.

In order to implement A.B. 60, DMV has been given an additional $141 million by the California State legislature, enabling the agency to hire 900 new employees, so that they may process the expected 1.4 million additional license applications over the coming three years.

One of the groups spearheading the effort against A.B. 60 is called "We the People Rising," based out of Claremont, California, and they had folks at a number of DMVs and political offices, including that of State Senator Ricardo Lara of Los Angeles County, to ensure their message of dissatisfaction was received.

The Santa Barbara News-Press announced A.B. 60 going into effect with a headline that read, "Illegals Line Up For Driver's Licenses."  The reaction by those that support the law was to protest the newspaper, calling for a retraction of the headline.  200 protesters gathered to protest the headline at the offices of the publication, calling it unacceptable, and calling themselves, "Undocumented, Unafraid."  The demonstrators claim that the headline violates Associated Press guidelines, and that the word "illegal" should describe an action, not a person. One of the demonstrators indicated that the News-Press and other local media outlets should use language that is "fair and objective rather than inflammatory and biased."

A representative from the newspaper, the oldest print news publication in California, asserted that for nearly 10 years it has been the practice of the Santa Barbara News-Press to describe people living in this country illegally as 'illegals' regardless of their country of origin.  The spokesman went on to say that even the White House website uses the term when describing those who have been deported for being in the country illegally.

Vandals spray painted graffiti on the Santa Barbara News-Press building overnight Wednesday, causing an estimated $1,500 in damage.  "The border is illegal not the people who cross it" and "fight back" were spray painted on the building and its sidewalks, along with the addresses of two websites — imaginenoborders.org and nooneisillegal.org.

While protesters claim language, such as using the word "illegal," is designed to "divide us," for those that support legal immigration, and support enforcement of current immigration laws that are on the books, it has nothing to do about discrimination, and everything to do about abiding by the rule of law, and protecting the receiving population from any potential dangers that may be crossing the border with unscreened illegal border-crosses.

As yours truly explained on Al Jazeera America on December 30, 2014, the immigration issue is present in the United States Constitution, and the laws on the books are clear regarding what the federal government, and the States, should be doing regarding this issue.

Article I, Section 9 allows the United States Congress, as of 1808, to pass legislation to prohibit certain persons from migrating into the United States.  This allowance to protect the country from potential dangers due to a lack of screening of incoming immigrants is also supported by Article IV, Section 4 which tasks the federal government with securing the border, a necessary and proper action the government must take to protect each State from invasion.  Once the illegal immigrant has entered the State, however, enforcement also may fall upon the State's law enforcement agencies, for the States have a right to protect their interior.

The major reasons proclaimed folks that stand against illegal immigration is that they worry about how the receiving population will be impacted by persons that enter illegally.  In Murrieta, California, in early July of 2014, the residents of the Southern California city turned around two buses full of illegal aliens being shipped into their city.  It was later revealed that every single illegal immigrant on those buses were ill with something.  The diseases ranged from scabies; hand, foot and mouth disease; and tuberculosis.

The screening process that accompanies the legal immigration process protects the receiving population from the potential of disease, a criminal element, and terrorists.  Without the screening process, illegal aliens pose a considerable threat to the receiving population.  Speculation suggests that the sudden uptick in illnesses over the last year including Enterovirus D68, H3N2 Flu Virus, and Hand Mouth and Foot Disease can be directly attributed to the sudden increase of illegal aliens entering the country from south of the border.

At a time where terrorism is on the increase worldwide, including the recent events in Paris, France, while Al Jazeera was asking me if I knew the names of terrorists that had crossed the border, we are ominously reminded that it only takes one.



Immigration and the U.S. Constitution - YouTube

Flu Season With A Twist - Political Pistachio

Captain Oinks Slamming America - Political Pistachio

No comments: