Posted on 02/20/2002 1:09:18 PM PST by Shermy
Proposed legislation requiring more documents from immigrants applying for Tennessee driver's licenses would make roads more dangerous, licensing centers more stressful and the nation no more secure. That's the position of the Department of Safety, said Roland Colson, executive assistant to Commissioner Denny W. King.
"We do not have any legislative effort at this point in time directed toward changing any of the rules," Colson said.
The General Assembly last year passed a law making it unnecessary for immigrants applying for a driver's license to show a Social Security number.
But opponents are pushing for repeal this year, often citing the post-Sept. 11 terrorist threat.
In response, Latino Memphis Connection, a social service agency serving the Hispanic community, and other organizations are churning out press releases, endorsement letters and other information to defeat repeal attempts.
"There's a lot of misinformation out there, and we're trying to rectify that," said David Lubell, community outreach coordinator for Latino Memphis Connection.
"We think if people understand the whole story, they won't be threatened at all."
Among legislators pushing for tighter access to driver's licenses is Rep. Tre Hargett (R-Bartlett). "I think we now have a group of people who have driver's licenses that we can't necessarily verify they are who they say they are," he said.
"Our driver's license centers are flooded because of the ease of obtaining driver's licenses."
But the Coalition for a Safer Tennessee, a group defending the new driver's license law, lists among supporters the Tennessee Bar Association, Knoxville Police Department, Tennessee Catholic Public Policy Commission, Nashville Chamber of Commerce and other religious, business, community and government organizations.
Lubell said Tennesseans should think about the children.
"Do you want your children crossing the street when they could be at risk from a driver who doesn't know the rules of the road?
"It's not an immigration issue. It's a safety issue."
Opponents of easier access to licenses also propose alternative legislation that would require immigrants to show they are in the United States legally through such documents as a passport or visa.
The opponents cite concerns over terrorists using fraudulently obtained driver's licenses as IDs. As many as five of the Sept. 11 hijackers fraudulently obtained identification cards Aug. 2 from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, federal authorities have alleged.
Opponents also are pointing to the alleged driver's license scam uncovered in Memphis this month. License examiner Katherine Smith, who died in a fiery car wreck Feb. 10, was charged the week before with conspiring to provide fraudulently obtained driver's licenses.
Her co-defendants are five men of Middle Eastern descent. Three of the men admitted to being in the United States illegally and said they were going to pay two middlemen about $1,000 each for driver's licenses, according to the FBI.
While free on her own recognizance, Smith died in what federal authorities describe as a suspicious wreck, the result of arson.
Federal authorities have said they are investigating any possible terrorist links among Smith's co-defendants.
An FBI agent has testified that one of Smith's co-defendants and a leader of the alleged scam told authorities he traveled from New York to Tennessee to get licenses in part because Tennessee does not require immigrants to have a Social Security number.
But Colson said the alleged collusion of the driver's license examiner was a much bigger factor.
"For an examiner that knows the system and knows how it works, there is a possibility they could find a way to enter a Social Security number that could be verified and allowed for a driver's license to be issued," he said.
"Having the Social Security number is not a fail-safe mechanism," he said. "There are ways a person who knows the system can get around it."
And anybody can get a Social Security number, Colson said. "I mean, some of the people that were terrorists had Social Security numbers. That in itself is not a security item."
The Department of Safety also does not want to require people who are not citizens to prove they are in the United States legally by showing proper INS documents such as passports or visas.
"It is a federal requirement of the INS to find out whether someone is here legally or not," Colson said. "It is not our obligation at this particular point."
Arkansas takes a different approach.
"If the paperwork doesn't look right, we'll call the INS and start checking them out," said Susan Willingham, Arkansas license examiner.
If the Tennessee General Assembly starts requiring such proof of a person's legal presence, the Department of Safety would need more money, training and workers, Colson said.
Applicants already stand in line for hours at testing centers, especially in bigger cities like Memphis. It's been an issue for years.
The driver's license division has 303 employees to handle 5.2 million drivers, he said. Workers not only issue driver's licenses but also issue handgun permits, take fingerprints and issue identification cards for people who don't drive.
Making it easier for immigrants to get licenses not only helps individuals, Colson said, it boosts the state's construction and farming industries.
"They have a dramatic need for labor," he said. "These people coming here, they provide that." [no, they provide cheap labor, suppressing the wages of Americans. Disgusting. This guy could write for the Wall Street Journal!]
Plus, deny immigrants a driver's license, Colson said, "and what you are going to do is put a large group of people out on the road that do not have a license, do not have insurance and do not understand the rules of the road."
Ricardo Duran, 44, of Colombia studied the rules, passed the exam and received his license about three weeks ago.
"We wouldn't have been able to get a driver's license if the state had forced us to have a Social Security number," said his wife, Claudia Duran, 40.
Since May, the Durans have been in Memphis, where their 11-year-old daughter, Ana, is being treated for leukemia at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
First of all, the driver's license helps the family get around Memphis, Claudia Duran said. "Second of all, it helps you to have an ID." Her husband's driver's license even has helped them finally to be able to rent videos.
- Tom Bailey Jr.: 529-2388
baileytom@gomemphis.com
Pathetic isn't it? This crap use to occur only in places like California and Texas. Its everywhere now.
Don't know which state you live in, but the sad fact is that the Secretary of States Office in Illinois has been corrupt since I was a child--I am now 58. You would think that if someone in government really cared, they could do something about it. They will occasionally do a sting operation and prosecute a few people and then things go back to "normal."
This is just the tip of the iceberg re giving licenses to illegal aliens. Of course what political party do 99.999999999999999999999999% of Illegal aliens vote for and vote often for?
If this was a baseball game, as soon as an illegal alien stepped into the batter's box before the first pitch is thrown the Ump would declare a home run and tell the illegal to round the bases.
Maybe this is something Tennessee could put in their promotional brochures. “Tennessee--Home To Terrorists Worldwide"
If there is not a massive overturning of power in this state this year, we are doomed.
Ahh Yes. The famous George Ryan money for license scandal. Notice how the Feds never did bust him for it? His penalty was that he couldn't run for re-election. Never mind that Ryan's criminal activities led to numerous highway casualties caused by illegal aliens that had no business driving a truck or, for that matter, being in our country to begin with.
The thing that separates Illinois corruption from other states is that Illinois corruption is so well organized by Daley’s machine and the power brokers inside in the Illinois GOP. And our politicians take pride in that.
And he'll back the profs against the registration of legal aliens, wait and see. The profs don't want to upset their foreign students...to much $$ involved. GREEDY monsters all of them.
HOW HIGH UP DID THE DL's for sale go??????????? Smith couldn't have been acting alone. In ILL the CDL scandal went clear to the Sec of State and the current rino gov.
Why not? They should be required to show their visas and passports also.
About as smart as saying that rape isn't about sex.
Well, I have to disagree about that. Rape isn't about sex. Rape is about power and violence. It involves taking control of a woman's body against her will. It takes her dignity and self-assurance away by reducing her to an object of sexual abuse, humiliation and degradation.
It wont change the fact that our own federal government, including the Bush administration, is supporting and encouraging this titanic invasion of millions. Just like the last 6 administrations. This has been going on for many years.
This invasion of millions is no accident. Its an obvious agenda and its working. The population is less educated, ignorant, and will work at or near slave wages, and not make waves for the employer and the corrupt politicians stand to receive more votes.
Virginia, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Illinois, Utah, etc ect, You aint seen nothing yet. Trust me. This invasion was for years, isolated to California, and Texas, not so now. Its gone nationwide in a *big* way.
As our so-called leaders and career politicians in DC stand treasonously silent in the face of this massive invasion that is completely destroying our national sovereignty and security.
The terrorists inform the hostages that they're to be killed, but they can choose from among three different ways to die. The hostages can choose to be shot, set on fire in their car or be injected with HIV and die a slow, painful death.
The first liberal chooses to be shot, so bang he's dead.
The second liberal chooses to be set on fire in her car (must have been from Memphis) and, whoosh, up she goes in a ball of flames.
The Tennessee authorities will later take a whole week to determine the fire wasn't accidental.
The official from the Tennessee Department of Public Safety chooses the HIV injection. The terrorists inject him and he starts laughing in their faces. The terrorists give him a puzzled look. He says, "Go ahead, give me another injection". The terrorists give him a second injection and he's still laughing. The terrorists can't figure the guy out, because they're certain he's going to die a horrible death.
The Tennessee Department of Public Safety official regards the terrorists with contempt and says, "You terrorists are so stupid. You can't kill me with that HIV, I'm wearing a condom."
The terrorists give each other, momentarily, puzzled looks and then throw the clever official inside his car and set him on fire.
The Tennessee authorities have yet to declare arson as the cause of death, since the official's remains were found to contain such a high concentration of HIV.
The local DMV office was re-opened, immediately, so as not to unduly, inconvenience any illegal aliens.
>sarcasm<
Both the Democratic and Republican parties look at elections as simply a formality in which party loyalists vote for their party's candidate and both ambivalent and disgusted voters tend to approach voting with a "vote for the lesser of two evils" philosophy. As long as the majority of American voters keep thinking and voting this way, major problems such as illegal immigration will never be resolved.
The time has come for each patriotic American voter who is "mad as hell" at ineffective government to seriously consider voting for a third party candidate because our current two party political system is no longer working for us.
The United States today is going through one of the most corrupt periods in its long history. We, the people of the United States, created a brand new government from scratch 226 years ago. The time is now upon us to do some major tinkering to get our government working right again. The American voters collectively have a great amount of power, but unless we start to use it wisely and effectively at election time, it does us no good to possess it.
Keep an eye on Grover Norquist, he's one of the biggest problems in the political world. (See replies)
Grass roots, politicians differ on immigration
"Republican strategist Grover Norquist has a ready explanation for the success of the well-organized and well-connected pro-immigration coalition against the public preference expressed in polls.
"Intensity trumps preference," Norquist said. Few Americans make voting decisions based on immigration policies, he said, so the issue has little practical political effect. He drew another moral from the story: "Politicians pay more attention to elections than they do to polls."
I'm seeing this now in a big way in the Chicagoland area. In just the last year it has become quite noticeable. Illegal Aliens all over the place. You are correct. The titanic invasion of illegal aliens is going nationwide. Everyone sees it but few are willing to talk about it openly.
I remember that story. There are many more such incidents that have gone largely unreported.
I read that article. It turned by stomach. Norquist is a scumbag that would do any twisted deal for a buck including protecting Muslims with close ties to terrorism. He defines well the sickness in the Republican Party.
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