DOJ nominee Thomas Perez pushed driver's licenses for illegal aliens when president of CASA

Paul West of the Los Angeles Times offers "Obama's civil rights nominee should be ready for a fight" (link) about Thomas Perez, the Maryland labor secretary who was nominated to head the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. Among other things, it contains this:

Immigration is a minor responsibility for the division's lawyers, but the topic is likely to be a focus in the confirmation of Perez, a Dominican American. For seven years, he was a director of CASA of Maryland, an immigrant rights group, and served as its president in 2002. That year, CASA lobbied the Maryland General Assembly against a proposal by Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening to make it tougher for immigrants to get driver's licenses.

Alan Clayton, a Perez supporter, said the nominee's association with CASA would make it harder for him to win Senate confirmation, describing the Maryland nonprofit as "very, very hard-core" on immigrant rights issues.

From the American perspective, CASA de Maryland is indeed very "hardcore": they're very strong supporters of illegal activity and they're currently being funded by Citgo, i.e., the government of Venezuela. Contrary to how Paul West describes them, they aren't an "immigrant rights group", they're a far-left group that supports illegal immigration every way they can. Even the Washington Post has recently noted how insecure Maryland driver's licenses are.