Posted on 10/03/2001 9:11:01 AM PDT by Gritty
Larry Justus, Henderson County’s representative in the state’s legislature, said it appears at least three men investigated by the FBI in its ongoing terrorism probe obtained North Carolina driver’s licenses.Justus, a Republican who led an effort to tighten the state’s requirements to receive a driver’s license, said he and District Attorney Jeff Hunt recently began looking into whether people investigated by the FBI obtained North Carolina driver’s licenses. Hunt was in Raleigh on other business Tuesday and checked a list of 25 names provided by the FBI after meeting with Justus.
Justus said it appears three of the 25 people listed had obtained North Carolina driver’s licenses.
Among those names was Mohamed Atta, a suspected leader of the hijacking teams that attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Justus said.
“It looks like Atta had a North Carolina driver’s license,” Justus said. “This is still an in-progress thing we are looking at.”
Justus also appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” on Tuesday in an interview with Matt Lauer, a news anchor on the program.
“I’ve had media people here all day,” Justus said during a telephone interview from his office in Raleigh after the national TV interview.
The media interest came after Justus appeared on the national morning news show for about five minutes Tuesday and discussed legislation recently passed in North Carolina that tightened the requirements to receive a state driver’s license.
The “Today Show” became interested in talking to Justus after a story concerning his efforts to tighten the state’s driver’s license law appeared in the Los Angles Times, he said.
Justus said a woman from the “Today Show” called him Tuesday morning and asked that he appear. He agreed and met a television crew at the legislative building. Satellite technology allowed him to appear from Raleigh on the show with other guests and Lauer.
Justus said he was given a list of questions about the new law shortly before he appeared on the show along with a civil liberties expert.
But he said many of the questions he answered dealt with the possibility of a national identification card being discussed in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Justus said he supported the use of identification cards.
“With what is occurring in our country at this time, we would certainly need an ID card,” he said. “It’s beyond the scope of states. The federal government ought to do it.”
After he stated the same opinion on the television program, Justus said he began receiving e-mail’s on both sides of the issue. Reporters in Raleigh and Hendersonville also began calling him.
Justus began working on a bill to require proof of residency in March after many people in Henderson County complained about long waits at the local driver’s license office.
North Carolina, unlike neighboring South Carolina and Georgia, makes no effort to require driver’s license applicants to document whether they are legally in the country.
Officials say the stricter rules in other states and an influx of non-English speaking customers in the state have led to delays in some driver’s license offices around the state.
Other states near North Carolina also require people without Social Security numbers who legally come to the states from outside the country to obtain letters from the Social Security Administration stating they are not eligible for Social Security numbers.
But in North Carolina, people without Social Security numbers are not required to document their legal status in the country.
Also, while giving false information to the Department of Motor Vehicles is a misdemeanor under state law, the state does not require applicants to prove they are residents of North Carolina.
A bill Justus proposed to require proof of residency and documentation of the applicant’s legal status in the country has been incorporated in the state’s budget. It should become law Jan. 1.
Justus said he thought local news coverage of his work on the driver’s license law contributed to the “Today Show” appearance.
This problem has been getting a lot of attention in western N.C. for months. Anybody can get a N.C. drivers license whether they are here illegally or not or even from out of state. And of course, with a drivers license, one can also register to vote, rent cars, drive the roads, present authentic identification to police, etc.
Rep. Justus has lead a difficult fight to get this terrible law changed. Hordes of illegals that can't speak English have been streaming into the state causing chaos at DMV outlets that issue licenses, so much so the local people can't get their own licenses re-issued because of the non-English speaking mobs lined out the door and down the street. These lines have been what caused the outrage leading to the law to be changed, not so much the fact illegals were getting licenses just for showing up. To be helpful, the DMV provided translators so these people could take the written tests in Spanish and do the interviews in a language they understand.
It's little wonder these hijackers could get a license. If they wanted, they could even register to vote.
No doubt that lax attitude among the citizens of North Carolina is changing as we speak.
Here in the SFBA the USPS has become so bad, that mail gets lost on a regular basis and the guy stuffs someone else's mail into other people's mailboxes. I get tons of other people's mail and some letters that I expect sometimes get lost. The loss of work ethic and further deterioriation of government services is the clear sign of third-worldization.
The only thing "off the table" in that little deal was a contraction in the size of the state government.
That loud flapping you hear in the distance is chickens coming home to roost. There are a lot more out there than we can hear at present. This is only the beginning.
The young woman ahead of me did not have the required ID. She was told to talk to someone else. To my surprise they let her get a driver's license.
My Korean wife recently had her purse stolen with all of her IDs inside. First thing she did was to find an old Social Security Tax form with her name on it, and in five minutes she waltzed out of the drivers license bureau with a North Carolina official picture ID Card.
Anyone could go to the IRS office, pick up a Social Security tax form, type any name on it and any Social Security number, and then go to the NC Drivers License bureau and get a North carolina ID Card or Driver's License.
What identity would you like. Would you like to register to vote?
Your surprise was no doubt due to the fact you had just recently come from New Jersey, where illegals have to pay good money to get black market licenses. Here, they can get legitimate ones for a few bucks and just showing up.
Who cares? In the case of these hijackers, it was apparently any one they wanted.
But why take unneccessary chances? Just give them your real name and waltz out with some bona fides. The INS will never catch you, and North Carolina will never check, at least until next January 1st when they supposedly close that loophole!
Maybe. But he could also have gotten it in any other county in the state.
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