Posted on 11/27/2007 1:42:44 PM PST by Graybeard58
Gov. Matt Blunt unleashed his latest proposal Monday in a flurry of legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.
The proposed law, Blunt said at a news conference held at the Cape Girardeau Police Department, would specifically prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses, penalize those who are here illegally and punish those who help illegals obtain licenses.
The state already has safeguards intended to prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses, but Missouri lacks a specific law prohibiting it, Blunt said.
The penalties are still open for discussion, but Blunt suggested making the first offense a class B misdemeanor for someone who knowingly aids an illegal immigrant fraudently in obtaining a driver's license.
"It has to be strong enough to serve as a deterrent," Blunt said. The charges would then escalate with every repeat offense, he said.
Blunt said the proposal was spurred by the recent action of New York's governor in sponsoring a plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
"That doesn't make sense in Missouri," he said.
Driver's licenses are issued in Missouri by the Department of Revenue through scores of contractor-run offices around the state.
People who are not U.S. citizens currently can get Missouri driver's licenses by showing a federal form validating their lawful presence. Their status also is checked through a federal database, department spokesman David Griffith said.
Under a change made in 2005, those temporary licenses last only until the expiration of that person's approval to be in the United States, Griffith said. Previously, noncitizens could receive Missouri driver's licenses with standard expiration dates, meaning their licenses could have remained valid after their approval to be here had ended, he said.
Earlier this year, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but he eventually withdrew that plan.
Oren Shur, a spokesman for Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon's gubernatorial campaign, said Blunt's proposal doesn't offer anything new.
"Giving licenses to illegal immigrants is already against the law in Missouri," Shur said. "The Blunt administration issues all the driver's licenses in the state, so if they have been giving licenses to illegal immigrants, then the governor has some explaining to do."
Nixon also opposes giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
The proposed legislation is the latest in a series of plans in Blunt's battle against illegal immigration, which began in late August.
Already, Blunt has asked state law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of every person presented for incarceration. He said Monday that officers so far have turned 110 illegal immigrants over to federal authorities for detention.
Blunt also is pushing for state law enforcement officers to become deputized so they can enforce federal immigration law. He cited recent discussions between the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Office in Chicago, the Department of Homeland Security, and support from U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson in assisting in the ongoing process. It should be completed soon, he said.
Blunt also has asked for tighter oversight of state-financed construction projects to ensure contractors who get state incentives don't use illegal immigrants.
We need 49 more governors like Roy Blunt. We would not have an illegal immigration problem with 49 governors like him.
Another reason why I am considering moving to Missouri.
That would be great!
MOgirl
I think Matt Blunt is Presidential material, not the 2008 Presidential election, but thinking 2012.
He has pissed off a lot of liberals in Mo. But he stands up and says it like it is and don’t back down.
Spitzer, take note
I’m jealous, I live in socialist Illinois and just next door in Missouri they have an excellent governor.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
30 miles from the birth place of Graybeard58.
Oh, come on now...Can’t we have at least one to kick around a little bit???
Got to have some fun...
You better hurry Governor.They will over-run your state like locust.
“Gov. seeks ban on licenses for illegal immigrants”
No La Raza convention in Kansas City, MO in 2009(?); they pulled out
when some rational councilwoman wouldn’t back down from her stated
objections to illegal immigration.
So...Illegal, don’t come to Missouri. Go where you are truly appreciated.
Los Angeles, CA
New Haven, CT
Standing next to Eliot Spitzer
Click click BOOM!
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