This is what the Family Steering Committee of an advocacy group led by families of 9/11 victims had to say about these provisions:
The other controversial provision that calls for imposing driver's license rules against illegal aliens was not endorsed by the 9/11 Commission. Their investigation revealed all of the hijackers were admitted “legally” into the US , through INS. Nor would driver's license restrictions help prevent terrorist attacks perpetrated by "in status" foreign visitors, naturalized citizens or by cells of American-born terrorists.Considering that an estimated 3 million illegal aliens and 500 million foreign visitors enter the US every year, clearly, the focus must be on intelligence that can identify terrorists who attempt to blend in with either throng. We cannot stop terrorists solely through second-tier methods such as driver's license reform. Sadly there are some who advocate letting the bill 'die' if the narrow issue of driver's licenses for illegals is not included. This shortsighted view has contributed to mischief in Washington .
The 9/11 Commission Report cites the best opportunities to disrupt the 9/11 plot involved Zacarias Moussaoui and the failure to track and watchlist two of the hijackers who attended a planning meeting in Kuala Lumpur. These missed opportunities are the purview of the FBI and CIA. There is simply no comparison between the effect of closing immigration loopholes and the impact in preventing terrorist attacks by creating an effective intelligence network.
"This is what the Family Steering Committee of an advocacy group led by families of 9/11 victims had to say about these provisions: "
And here's what the other group (bigger) of 9ll families had to say:
My next guest says that immigration reforms are a critical part of intelligence reform. Peter Gadiel is the president of 9/11 Families for a Secure America. His son, James, was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11th. Peter Gadiel believes that if our national immigration laws had been fully enforced before September 11th, his son and many others would still be alive today. Good to have you with us.
PETER GADIEL, 9/11 FAMILIES FOR A SECURE AMERICA: Thank you for having me.
DOBBS: The statement, Congressman Sensenbrenner pointing out, 19 hijackers held 63 valid driver's licenses. What is your reaction when you hear that Jim Sensenbrenner was the primary person to stand up and say, as a matter of first line of defense, we've got to be able to stop giving valid driver's licenses to people who are here illegally.
GADIEL: People like Senator Collins and Lieberman and Roberts and Congressman Harman have been piling on him and criticizing him. But for the people of my group, 9/11 Families for a Secure America, he's a hero. He's able to take this absurd, false, phony criticism and fight back and make the point that driver's licenses are first and last line of defense.
DOBBS: It is a remarkable period. Do you understand -- you've been talking with these congressmen, these senators. I have not been able to get from any one of them who is opposed to banning these driver's licenses a solid, intelligent national security answer as to why they would be against it.
GADIEL: Well, if you go into Senator Lieberman's office, you'll hear the issue is complex. It's not complex. And for our members, the message we want to get across to the people of Connecticut, the people of California, Jane Harman's district and others, is that if you are in favor of the Collins/Lieberman/McCain bill, the Senate bill, then you are in favor of giving licenses to terrorists, it's that simple. Because if you support the Senate bill, then what you want to give is make licenses available to illegal aliens, an illegal alien is a person who's never been identified properly. And so any illegal alien can be a terrorist. We don't know who they are.
DOBBS: And Congressman Sensenbrenner also pointed out that the president agreed, as a matter of horse trading on this issue, to toughen the laws that would allow authorities to detain and deport terrorists.
GADIEL: Right.
DOBBS: And that was not agreed to by the Senate conferees.
GADIEL: The Senate conferees would not budge an inch from their original position. They're saying that the House didn't compromise. But, in fact, the House compromised a great deal to the point where, at the end, the only thing in terms of border security or driver's license reform was the driver's license provision. All the other border security measures had been bargained away by the House because of the refusal of the Senate, Collins, Lieberman, McCain, the rest of the crowd, Rockefeller, to compromise even an inch. And there's no interpretation available for their position other than that they want to keep the borders open because they want cheap labor in this country, and the people provide massive campaign contributions are continuing to fund their campaigns.
DOBBS: You said it that straightforward.
GADIEL: Straightforward. Senator Roberts, over one-third of $1 million of campaign dollars, from agribusiness alone in the last few years. Agribusiness, a major user of cheap, illegal labor. Senator Roberts, you don't want closed borders? We do. We consider our children's lives and the future of this country much more important than your contributions from agribusiness.
DOBBS: Congressman Duncan Hunter, Chairman of the House Armed Forces Committee, saying this legislation should not pass because it takes away too much power from the Department of Defense intelligence. Do you agree with him on that?
GADIEL: I can't comment on the intelligence side. I mean, I've been working on border security and such things. And for me to say anything about the intelligence dispute would be talking through my hat.
DOBBS: Your position, the position of your group, the 9/11 Families for a Secure America, is that driver's licenses, we have to stop issuing them to illegal aliens, and that we have to have border security.
GADIEL: Border security. More people on the border, more internal enforcement, ban the use of matricular cards.
DOBBS: It sounds so straightforward, so simple, so primary, that if one cannot defend their borders, what defense is there?
GADIEL: Well, talk to Senator Rockefeller, he'll tell you the issue is complex. I'm sorry. I mean, General Franks said during the Iraq war that any nation that wants to can control its borders. The people in Congress do not want to control our borders. That's where the problem lies.
DOBBS: What should people who agree with you do?
GADIEL: Well, Election Day has passed. One of the worst members of the entire congress on this issue is senator McCain. He authored a provision in the Senate bill, that essentially invites states to go on giving licenses to terrorists, and he's just been elected by 70 percent of the vote. On the other hand, those very same people supported the PAN initiative which was a ...
DOBBS: Proposition 200.
GADIEL: Proposition 200, right. You know, vote them out of office. Get rid of Senator Rockefeller, get rid of Senator Lieberman. Vote for people who will support the borders and not just talk right about the issue, and then vote wrong, like Senator Lieberman. They always talk about how they want to control the borders, but when it comes to a vote, they won't do it.
www.cnn.com/lou/transcripts