Posted on 11/10/2003 4:35:28 AM PST by TheRightGuy
Senator Chris Lauzen’s speech to the Illinois Senate on SB67
I’ve lived in Aurora, Illinois for my entire life. 35% of my neighbors are Hispanic and 25% are African-American. I respect and enjoy my neighbors!
Legal immigration is good. Illegal immigration is not. Illegal immigration is neither compassionate nor moral for those who are exploited by trade in their misery, nor fair to current citizens and legal residents of this country.
Until our federal government acknowledges and shoulders its responsibilities at our borders, the State of Illinois should not make matters worse.
Legislation that gives illegal immigrants yet another incentive to break the law just begs the question, “What’s the value of citizenship if you get all the benefits for free?” Why work to earn acceptance in a new country when you can merely take the privileges handed to you? (In the more rural areas in my district, they say “…Why buy the cow, if you get the milk for free?”)
So, what are the unique benefits of U.S. citizenship?
1. “A job”? No, immigration workplace regulations are not enforced. How can citizens and legal residents ever get ahead financially, how can you earn more dollars per hour, if there’s always a large flow of people applying for your job who will work for a lot less because they’re desperate?
2. “Free elementary and secondary education”? No, we don’t even ask legal status before paying $7-8,000 per year per child in already over-crowded classrooms.
3. “2/3 Discount for in-state tuition at our state universities”? No, we gave that one away earlier this year.
4. “Free healthcare at emergency rooms”? No, hospitals turn no one away who needs help.
5. “Full use of our public lands and environmental resources”? No, these are open to all.
6. Most importantly, “the power to vote”? With this driver’s license law, those who vote “yes” will jeopardize the voting policy safeguards of this state. Under the U.S. Motor Voter law, all applicants are asked if they want to register to vote. In actual practice, proof of citizenship is not required for registration. Therefore driver’s licenses are a gateway to illegal voting.
7. And now, “the privilege of driving a car”? No, our roads will not be safer when we issue drivers licenses to those already breaking the law. If a person’s first act upon entering our country is to break her immigration laws, what real assurance do we have that traffic and insurance laws will represent any more of a meaningful barrier to misconduct?
Some people say that even allowing written driver’s tests to be taken in Spanish or any other foreign language violates the specific law that made English the official sate language of Illinois back in 1969. Giving tests in foreign languages not only invites illegal immigrants to apply, it defies logic and common sense because U.S. road signs are in English. If an applicant is a naturalized citizen, fluency in English was required for citizenship. A driver who does not understand English is a hazard on the road, as the Willis family found out so tragically.
Giving more incentives and privileges to illegal immigrants causes reason to stare. Over 30 years ago, John F. Kennedy cautioned us that full confidence in the integrity of American Law is essential. He said…
“Our nation is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty, and defiance of the law (in this case immigration law) is the surest road to tyranny. Even among law-abiding men, few laws are universally loved, but they are uniformly respected and not resisted.
Americans are free, in short, to disagree with the law but not to disobey it…For no man however prominent and powerful, and no mob however unruly and boisterous, is entitled to defy a court of law.”
We should be passing public policy that unites us, rather than divides us. “Observance of the law” is the common ground upon which we pitch our tent of domestic tranquility and social peace. Please vote “No”.
I don't much care who you ask, as long as you ask in English!
its mine :) god tells me so (poor attempt at a braveheart spoof)
What a depressing way to start a new week.
And, ironically, what a depressing way to spend Veterans Day eve. Men and women died by the hundreds of thousands to preserve a way of life that, at least politically, no longer has a special positive meaning.
As Ralph Cramden would say, "What a revolting development this is!"
I don't much care who you ask, as long as you ask in English!
Does writing in English count too? (As in "Whose country is this?")
I know it's early on the west coast. Please, get some coffee. Reread the article. This speech is credited with PREVENTING the Illinois legislature from issuing driver's licenses to illegals.
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I'd skip the signs and simply stick to speaking English to all customers. If they don't understand, then those are the breaks.
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