March 28, 2007

Illinois House approves driver's licenses for illegal aliens

The Illinois House approved HR 1100 earlier today, which would give illegal aliens "driving certificates" which supposedly would (link to text):

clearly state on its face that it may not be accepted by any federal agency for any federal identification or other official purpose... [and] ...may not be used to obtain a Firearm Owner's Identification Card...

To get it they'd need to:

provide a valid passport and any additional documents, as the Secretary may set forth by administrative rule ...provide the Secretary with a valid individual tax identification number issued by the federal Internal Revenue Service or social security number issued by the federal Social Security Administration ...a photo identity document, except that a non-photo identity document is acceptable if it includes both the person's full legal name and date of birth; ...the Secretary shall not accept any foreign document, other than a valid official passport, for purposes of this subparagraph...

From the foregoing, I gather at least three things: a) Illinois is nearly as corrupt a state as Chicago always has been, b) our Federal government is even more corrupt, giving out tax ID numbers (ITINs) knowing that many of the users are illegal aliens, and c) at least Mexican partisans haven't infiltrated Illinois to the extent that they've infiltrated California.

The last is because of the "foreign document" restriction; similar proposals in other states have allowed the use of Mexico's Matricula Consular card, which is nearly a guarantee that the bearer is an illegal alien.

Somewhat surprisingly, the AP report leads with the pro-American comments and buries the pro-illegal alien whine several paragraphs into their tale:

Bill Ketron has a warning for Illinois lawmakers: Be careful about letting illegal immigrants drive... The Tennessee state senator sponsored that state's 2004 law to create special driving "certificates" for illegal immigrants -- an idea being considered in Illinois... Now the program has been suspended, and Ketron is sponsoring legislation to kill it entirely. People used forged documents to obtain the certificates, he said, and some came from other states to fraudulently get certificates then go home and exchange them for regular licenses... "It's been a disaster," the Murfreesboro Republican said. "If they're proceeding with it (in Illinois), go into it with your eyes open."

Those on the pro-illegal immigration side include Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich (has said he'd sign it), Rep. Edward Acevedo, D-Chicago (the sponsor), the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and their deputy director Laimutis Nargelenas, and the Illinois Sheriffs Association. Secretary of State Jesse White is either on the fence or trying to play both sides of it. Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Greenville is quoted in opposition.

Posted to Immigration_dls at March 28, 2007 09:56 PM