[url]http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/739519/posts?page=1[/url]

One of you here said it best some weeks ago: "I no longer consider CA to be part of the U.S.", and I agree!!!

Davis plans to back driver's licenses for the undocumented
Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ^ | August 26, 2002 | Ed Mendel


Posted on 08/26/2002 9:16 AM Pacific by Jagdgewehr


SACRAMENTO - Gov. Gray Davis plans to sign legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain a California driver's license, overturning a ban enacted nearly a decade ago.


But first, the governor said he is insisting on amendments that will protect the public in the wake of terrorist attacks and limit the issuing of licenses to persons who have lived in California for a minimum period of time.


"As a border state, immigrants are an inseparable part of California's social and economic fabric," Davis said last week. "I agree that it is safer and more responsible for people who are living, working and paying taxes in California to be licensed to drive a car legally."


Davis' agreement to sign legislation long sought by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, would overturn a law enacted in 1993 that requires driver's license applicants to show proof of citizenship or legal residency.


[b]The backers of the bill in 1993 said the driver's license is a "breeder" document that can be used to obtain other documention to qualify for public services, encouraging illegal immigration.[/b]


The restriction came a year before California voters approved Proposition 187, an initiative making undocumented immigrants ineligible for public education and other government services. That measure was blocked by the courts.


Davis negotiated an agreement six months after taking office in 1999 that dropped an appeal of the federal court decision blocking Proposition 187, angering supporters of the initiative but drawing praise from others.


"Thankfully, the atmosphere has changed since 1994," Cedillo said. "The discussions were very civil. We went forward and began to move this legislation."


But some opponents of Cedillo's legislation are making the same arguments about driver's license fraud heard before passage of Proposition 187 - and adding the new threat of terrorism.


Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, said in a news release that Cedillo's bill "allows just about anyone - including illegal aliens from nations that sponsor terrorism - to get a California driver's license without any real proof of their identity."


Mountjoy said the bill "endangers all Americans, including those of us who work in or visit the state Capitol, where all you have to do to get into the Capitol is to show a driver's license."


Cedillo said his legislation requires that driver's license applicants be fingerprinted, undergo background checks by law enforcement officials, have work histories here and provide identification from their home countries.


"Californians should know that those are very serious filters," he said. Cedillo also counters with stories, told in calls and letters to his office, about how not having a driver's license makes life difficult for hard-working Californians who are applying for legal residency.


For example, he said, a woman brought to California by her father when she was in the sixth grade went on to earn a University of California degree, but has been waiting six years for officials to process her residency application.


And the immigrant husband of a citizen was stopped by law enforcement officers while driving a truck with their children and her job equipment. The vehicle was towed because he had no driver's license.


"He's not a criminal," Cedillo said. "He's just bringing the truck home, and the whole family gets traumatized."


Cedillo estimates that 800,000 to one million people could become eligible for driver's licenses under his legislation. Some have used a much lower estimate, about 200,000.

Obtaining the legislation, a goal for Cedillo since he first ran for the Legislature four years ago, has not been easy for the former labor negotiator, who said he is accustomed to a more structured format for talks.


Davis vetoed a similar bill two years ago. Another Cedillo bill passed the Legislature last year but was pulled back from the governor after the attacks on Sept. 11 by terrorists, some reportedly carrying false driver's licenses.


Cedillo sent the bill back to Davis last week. Now Cedillo is working on a companion bill, expected to be heard in a Senate committee this week, that will contain the provisions Davis wants to ensure public safety.


"I have spoken to the governor directly," Cedillo said. "We have crafted a bill that I believe meets all his needs and all the concerns that he has raised."


The bill Davis vetoed two years ago required driver's license applicants to provide only a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service document showing that they had applied for legal residency.


Davis said the bill was an "invitation for fraud." He said other states - Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida - all require Social Security numbers.


[b]In a letter to Cedillo last week, Davis said the current version of the bill would not prevent driver's licenses from being issued to new arrivals or people with criminal histories, even those wanted by the FBI.[/b]


He said the driver's license is an important document "that can be used to board airplanes, open bank accounts and rent vehicles."


The governor said that after more than eight months of negotiations and working with law enforcement officials, he wants the new legislation tightened by adding several things.


An applicant who does not have a Social Security number must have a federal taxpayer identification number, evidence of at least 15 months of employment in California in the three previous years and proof of identity from his home country.


In addition, Davis said, applicants without Social Security numbers must submit to background checks by the state Department of Justice and provide full sets of fingerprints for the electronic system used to check teachers, ambulance drivers, school bus drivers, home care workers and others.


"The amendments I am seeking would ensure that this bill would benefit only those people who have lived, worked and paid taxes in California for a substantial period of time," he said.

When is that earthquake going to hit? [Taps foot impatiently.][pissed]

Hell .. Jarhead   we can just stay here at home for this.. I believe just last week .. our Dallas Chief of police OKed the use of mexican "MICAS" as offical forms of ID as well as DL's < no need to take that pisky driving test> in the intrest of growing a trusting releationship with the mexican illegals..

Hell BankOne allows you to open a checking act without a SSN or a DL.. < but only if your hispanic.. [whacko] >

the sad part is that I can go into the Mexican Counsulat off I-35 and Empire central and say Ive lost mine .. or Im new to the area and within 10-15 minutes Ill have a new one mailed to my address of choice!!!!!!

Oh yeah I forgot to add.. in dallas .. If your an illegal.and you want a DL .. just get a tax id..  your new dl is on the way.

Surely you're exaggerating, cluster?

No kidding...and no offense to those in CA who are just as baffled by this idiocy as the rest of us.

Do you think a few million gallons of Wesson Oil poured into the San Andreas fault would speed things up?  [:D]

Kar98..  I hope I am ... Im currently trying to find the story to back itup ,, or a set me straight on this..

I heard it last week on an Am talk show.. he mentioned it was a small article in DMN .. looking now..

So you're Gray Davis what's not to like...



You get a two'fer...more tax revenue for a bankrupt state treasury AND more minority democratic votes.

Makes perfect sense to a limousine liberal calicommiecrat.