Posted on 04/29/2005 3:39:09 PM PDT by kingattax
WASHINGTON -- Thousands of illegal immigrants have obtained driver's licenses in three states, federal authorities said Thursday, highlighting a security hole that the Sept. 11 hijackers exploited.
Three employees of Florida's motor vehicles agency were among 52 people arrested in a bribery scam that put driver's licenses in the hands of at least 2,000 illegal immigrants, officials said. The case, announced Thursday, follows similar arrests in Michigan and Maryland over the past week.
"With a valid driver's license, you establish an identity," said Michael Garcia, assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department.
"There's no way to identify whether that identity is valid -- that you're not on a terrorist watch list, that you're not a criminal. It gives you a bona fide," said Garcia, who heads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that coordinated the arrests. He said the cases do not appear to be related and there was no evidence of any terrorist connection.
"What we're looking at is the vulnerability and potential here, and we want to make sure that avenue isn't open to criminals or people posing a threat to our national security," he said.
Eighteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had valid driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards. At least one of those hijackers was in the United States illegally.
Nine of the 19 had Florida driver's licenses; three had ID cards issued by the state.
Obtaining driver's licenses was a priority for the hijackers, said Janice Kephart, counsel to the Sept. 11 commission and an expert on immigration and border security issues. "The object was to appear legitimate," Kephart said.
So far, 58 people face charges in the three license-for-cash cases
ping
ping
Thanks for the ping Calpernia.
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ON THE NET...
ICE.GOV
http://www.ice.gov
I hope they throw the book at these bastards!
A Florida ping
Wow--and the DMV misspelled my husband's name on the title and now wants to charge *us* a fee to change it, and won't send us a registration bill until we do!
But the DMV will happily take bribes from terrorists--just great.
Have they arrested them in every state?
Last fall it was in Arizona, so many that the local radio
said that the Drivers license bureau for the state was
closed for a day or two........all the offices.
Ping
Jeb can forget about running for any higher office...
If he can't straighten our Floriduh, he not up to any higher office.
Semper Fi
Agree.......
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