Free Republic

Measure 88, which would have provided driver cards to those who can't prove their legal residency, failed in Tuesday's election. Partial returns showed the measure going down with 64 percent against and 36 percent in favor. The measure pitted unions, some business groups and immigrant-rights organizations against a meagerly funded but tenacious campaign that referred the issue to the ballot after it passed the state Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. John Kitzhaber in May 2013.

Earlier this week, the left-leaning Austin American-Statesman editorialized that it’s time that Texas establish driver’s licences for illegal aliens.In the editorial, the paper calls for Texas to join the 11 states plus the District of Columbia in granting driver’s licenses to those who are in the state illegally. This issue cost California Gov. Gray Davis his job a few years back, in that Democratic state. It’s fair to say that it would be a very controversial move in Texas as the Republican-controlled legislature gets set for its 2015 session, and presumed Gov. Greg Abbott (R) presides over his first...

Colorado’s Department of Motor Vehicles mistakenly issued U.S. citizen driver’s licenses to 524 non-citizens, including some illegal immigrants, CBS4 has learned. The licenses look like those given to state residents. The DMV blamed a software problem at a contractor, who is working with DMV to retrieve the licenses and re-issue correct IDs. ... When the DMV announced it would issue appointments to non-citizens to receive licenses, calls and online orders deluged its offices. Tens of thousands reportedly contacted the DMV to register ... RELATED: Non-Citizen Driver’s Licenses Bogging Down Colorado DMV. Those in the country illegally or without a Social...

Colorado will begin issuing driver’s licenses and identification cards to immigrants Friday regardless of their legal status, underscoring a sea change in a state that less than a decade ago passed strict immigration enforcement laws. Now, thousands of immigrants are waiting to get cards they hope will add a degree of legitimacy to their residency in Colorado. About 9,500 people are signed up for appointments through the next 90 days to get the documents, with more getting scheduled every day. Both people in the country illegally and those who have temporary legal status will qualify. The demand for the licenses...

CNN chose to describe the recently detained Jose Antonio Vargas, longtime journalist for U.S. publications and legal citizen of the Philippines, as a “symbol of the immigration debate.” The news network aired his documentary, Undocumented, several times. At the heart of Vargas’s viewpoint — and CNN’s decision to refer to him as a symbol, as opposed to, say, a scofflaw — is the notion that it is unfair to deny citizenship to him, considering his circumstances. Vargas came to the United States from the Philippines when he was 12 and didn’t learn he was in the country illegally until...

Four out of five illegal immigrants seeking driver’s licenses under a new D.C. law have failed a written knowledge test — a rocky start to a program that in its first two months has issued 268 licenses, according to city officials. The failure rate of 80 percent compares with a 58 percent failure rate for people seeking traditional driver’s licenses, the Department of Motor Vehicles told a D.C. Council committee. In addition, a check of the DMV website this week shows a massive backlog in appointments required to apply for the District’s “limited-purpose license.” The first available date for an...

Could the third time really be a ‘charm’ in New Jersey? We’re not so sure how many in New Jersey would really find it a charm though.NJ Driver’s License (New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission) According to NJ.com, another effort is underway to allow illegal immigrants to obtain a New Jersey driver’s license. Under the state legislature measure, New Jersey would issue “driving privilege” cards to undocumented immigrants.Similar bills were introduced in 2006 and 2008 but neither advanced and were never introduced to the Senate.Senator Joe Vitale says that the measure is about “public safety,” but where is the protection in...

A startling number of Minnesota drivers don't have a valid license and should not be behind the wheel. A KARE-TV/MPR report found that approximately 1 in 8 drivers don't have driving privileges because their licenses have been suspended, revoked, canceled or disqualified. In some cases, they had no license at all. Yet they still drive. Reporter Trisha Volpe analyzed court records between 2008 and 2013 and found that nearly 310,000 people have been convicted for driving when the law says they can't. In the Twin Cities metro area that number was 181,000 with scores of repeat offenders. Volpe reported that...

Last week, Maryland joined a handful of other states that allow undocumented immigrants to drive legally on state roads, to register vehicles and to buy auto insurance. That's good public policy because it not only will make the state's roads safer for everyone who uses them but also help those living in the country without legal permission achieve a measure of self-sufficiency. Thousands of residents who previously either feared getting behind the wheel at all or who risked arrest or worse for driving without a license reportedly are now lining up to take the MVA written exam and road test....

Immigrant rights activists and upset family members gathered Sunday in Baldwin Park to express outrage over the arrests of 37 people during an overnight sobriety and drivers’ license checkpoints. Dozens of demonstrators, some carrying signs with slogans such as “driving is not a crime,” demanded answers from Baldwin Park police over what they called a round-up of undocumented immigrants. But police said the arrests were the result of recent changes in policies regarding what types of identification the court will accept when police issue a misdemeanor citation, such as one for driving without a license. And officials maintained that such...

Thinking about cutting class in Michigan? Make sure you know someone with whom you can hitch a ride. A state representative wants to revoke driver’s licenses for chronically absent students as part of an initiative to cut down on truancy. State Rep. Andy Schor, D-Lansing, introduced two bills last week that would alert Michigan’s secretary of state—who oversees the issuance of licenses—whenever a student’s truancy gets so severe that his or her school refers the matter to court. The student’s license would be suspended or withheld for six months under the proposed law. …

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday will hold signing ceremonies in Los Angeles and Fresno to approve AB 60, which will allow people in the country illegally to receive a permit to legally drive in California, his office announced Wednesday. Brown will join immigrant rights advocates, community leaders, law enforcement officials and local lawmakers in the ceremonies to sign the bill, which the announcement said will “enable millions more Californians to legally drive on the state’s roadways.” The bill by Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville) was changed at Brown’s request to meet requirements of the federal Department of Homeland Security,...

I just knew something was going to go wrong. Even though I had my paperwork in hand, all 4,327 pieces of it – which I needed to prove that I was indeed an American, and did indeed have a driver’s license from Pennsylvania that was legit – I knew, somehow, when I got to the BMV – that being Bureau of Motor Vehicles as they call it here in Ohio – that it would not go smoothly. And I was correct. All I had to do was change my license over from PA to Ohio. That’s it. First, being the...

Random checkpoints across the valley by DPS have spooked a lot of drivers, especially those who may be living in the valley without proper documentation to be in the US. "This is an issue of people's rights to move freely to get home, to their job, to be able to stay with their families if they are deported. It's an issue impacting a lot of people in a lot of different ways." Communications Coordinator of La Union Del Pueblo Entero John Michael Torres has been fielding calls from concerned drivers that Border Patrol is at these checkpoints which pop up...

<p>A Hawaii woman’s last name is a real mouthful, containing 36 letters and 19 syllables in all. And it’s so long that she couldn’t get a driver’s license with her correct name.</p> <p>The documents only have room for 35 characters, so Hawaii County instead issued her driver’s license and her state ID with the last letter of her name chopped off. And it omitted her first name.</p>

The Muslim terrorist group Qa’adat el-Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for a terrorist bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bombing in Bulgaria last week killed five Israelis, one a pregnant woman. The Lebanese paper El-Nashra reported that the group, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility in an email to the Arab press.

After living in Ohio for almost nine months, I decided to finally get around to changing my PA driver’s license, registration and plates changed over to Ohio. I pretty much just thought I’d walk into the BMV – that’s what it’s called here – Bureau of Motor Vehicles – and get it all done on the spot. This was not to be. A friend who I was complaining to about this process said all of that changed after 9/11. This is why, when you move out of state, (and I strongly do not recommend it) you need to give up...

Hundreds of young illegal immigrants across North Carolina took advantage of their first chance Monday to apply for the privilege to drive a car. The state Division of Motor Vehicles began issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants enrolled in a federal program that defers deportation for teens and young adults who were brought to the United States illegally as children or stayed illegally after their visas expired. More than 16,500 immigrants in North Carolina have received or applied for two-year work permits from the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Monday was the first day DMV accepted these work...

SNIPPET: "So there I was, doing that thing I do - targeted collection, and triage based on a range of frequently changing criteria - when I happened to notice this image:" SNIPPET: "georgi.ir: sometimes what isn't there is still interesting"

Current Updates here http://danaloeschradio.com/exclusive-... Department of Revenue is working with the Department of Homeland Security to install new hard and software to obtain data on Missouri citizens and transfer this information to DHS and unnamed third parties, says Kinder. Kinder and the Stoddard County Prosceutor today took legal action and held a press conference outlining the infringement on civil liberties as posted by the DoR and DHS. The move by the departments is related to the Real ID. Griffin went to renew his driver's license and was disturbed by how, and with whom, his information was being shared. Kinder and...