Cops: Give illegal immigrants driver's licenses

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | December 17, 2002 | MARK BIXLER

[sarcasm]

Police chiefs in Atlanta and DeKalb County and three smaller locations in Georgia have lined up behind a proposal to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The police chiefs say that since illegal immigrants drive every day anyway, licensing them would lead them to buy auto insurance and learn the rules of the road. The law enforcement officials say one effect would be fewer crashes that involve uninsured motorists, which would help keep insurance premiums down for all drivers. The change in policy would also help police identify people who often lack ID or carry forged documents.

"However a person came into this country, why would you not want that person to have identification?" said Chief Eddie Moody of the DeKalb Police Department.

Moody and Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington support legislation introduced by Rep. Barbara Mobley (D-Decatur) in the state House of Representatives during the last session. The bill would remove a requirement that limits Georgia driver's licenses to U.S. citizens and legal residents.

Police chiefs in Brunswick, Warner Robins and Glynn County also have endorsed the bill.

The support by police chiefs alarms Phil Kent, president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm that supports tighter immigration controls. Kent said it makes no sense for the state to license people whose very presence violates federal law.

"Not only is it foolish public policy, but it continues to undermine the rule of law," he said. "Police chiefs doing that is incomprehensible."

Kent said the foundation collected 10,000 signatures on a petition posted on its Web site opposing the effort to license illegal immigrants, a top priority for the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other organizations that represent the state's booming Latino population.

The U.S. Census Bureau counted 435,000 Latinos in Georgia in 2000, but some demographers say the actual population is closer to 700,000. Firm estimates are elusive, but some Hispanic advocates say roughly half of Georgia Latinos are illegal immigrants.

Mobley championed the driver's license legislation last year, but it went nowhere. The effort probably will face an "uphill battle" in the legislative session that begins next month, said Sen. Bill Stephens (R-Canton), a floor leader for Gov.-elect Sonny Perdue.

Stephens said he has not read the bill or spoken about it with Perdue, but he predicted "a good deal of resistance . . . in the General Assembly."

Some legal immigrants would resent the state's granting licenses to people who "have not followed the rules of coming to this country," said Amitabh Sharma, president of the India-American Cultural Association in Smyrna. His concern: If someone did not obey immigration law, there "is a great likelihood" that same person would also disregard traffic laws.

Yet the reality is that "large companies and businesses are recruiting Hispanics into this country," said Brunswick Police Chief T.C. Cowan, and "many of them purchase a car and drive even though they have no driver's license or insurance."

The state Legislature should act because "it's no secret that the federal government . . . is not going to send all illegal immigrants back," said Chief Dan Hart of the Warner Robins Police Department. The federal Immigration and Naturalization Service has about 2,000 officers to enforce immigration law in a country with an estimated 9 million illegal immigrants.

The Atlanta and DeKalb police chiefs signed onto the bill after meeting with Jerry Gonzalez, a lobbyist for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national civil rights organization with an office in Atlanta.

Some opponents of the licensing effort worry that foreign-born terrorists could use a driver's license to blend into the mainstream.

But Mobley argued that licensing illegal immigrants would improve national security by giving authorities a clearer picture of who lives here.

"This is a public safety issue," she said

[.45MAN]

"The police chiefs say that since illegal immigrants drive every day anyway, licencing them would lead them to buy auto insurance and learn the rules of the road."

Get serious! Learn the Rules of the Road!!! The so called legals (non-hyphenated anglo's) don't know the rules of the road....and some of them don't have insurance... You think the illleagles will buy insurance. If they have an accident they just disappear....what have they got to loose... We'll have the signs in spanish before they learn the rules of the road....... Ok now I have to go lie down and get my blood pressure back to normal.....

[.45MAN]

Yes, and just wait... Pretty soon you will see these same people saying that you can't have a fire in your house besause of the smoke, "It bothers the neighbors"" cough, cough... Buy all the firewood you want but you can't light it......Ok, I'll go now.....