Why all states should prohibit the issuance of drivers' licenses and "driving certificates" to illegal aliens.
The 9/11 Families for a Secure America are asking the few other states that give drivers' licenses to illegals to alter their statutes so as to prohibit people who are not legally present in this country from getting licenses.
Why is it necessary to keep illegal aliens from getting drivers' licenses?
BECAUSE A DRIVER'S LICENSE IS A TERRORIST'S TOOL
DRIVERS' LICENSES WERE THE 'VALID I.Ds' THAT GOT THE TERRORISTS ON THE PLANES THEY USED TO MURDER OUR LOVED ONES. Nearly every one of the 9/11 terrorists was allowed to board the planes that they used to commit mass murder because he had a driver's license from Virginia or Florida.
Drivers' licenses did more for the terrorists besides allowing them to board the planes. Drivers' licenses were the tools that allowed them to blend in as just ordinary Americans.
The driver's license is the basic identification document for nearly everyone in America. When the terrorists needed places to claim as a residence, they used their licenses as 'ID' for signing their leases. When they opened the bank accounts that they used to place the financing for the conspiracy, they used their licenses as ID. When they rented cars, rented motel rooms, when they paid tuition for their flying lessons they used their licenses to 'identify' themselves.
There are 8 to 11 million illegals in the US. Even their advocates call them 'undocumented.' AN 'UNDOCUMENTED' (ILLEGAL) ALIEN IS A PERSON WHOSE TRUE IDENTITY IS UNKNOWN, because he has never presented documents to US immigration officials, the only people capable of determining the authenticity of foreign documents.
Thus, a state that grants a driver's license to an 'undocumented' alien is giving an official 'valid ID' to a person who can be a terrorist.
Illegals are people who break the law to get into the US, break the law to stay here; break the law to get jobs here.
To give illegals the privilege of driving in the US is to reward criminal activity.
Giving licenses to illegals will encourage more illegals to come to the US.
Giving driver' licenses to illegals is opening the door to voter fraud
Under Federal 'motor voter' law: 'Each State motor vehicle driver's license application (including any renewal application) submitted to state motor vehicle agencies must serve as an application for voter registration with respect to elections for Federal office.' Thus, allowing illegals to get licenses will encourage them to vote, in violation of law.
Those who favor giving licenses to illegals make several claims... all of their claims are completely without merit:
1. Aren't there a few legal immigrants who don't have documentation and thus will be denied licenses under this law?
Answer: NO. Never. Every native born citizen and every naturalized citizen has a social security number and other documents that prove legal status. Every LEGAL immigrant and every LEGAL visitor, no matter under which provision of law he/she is admitted to the US has documentation from the US government describing his/her legal status.
THE ONLY REASON A PERSON CANNOT PROVIDE PROOF OF LEGAL STATUS IS BECAUSE HE/SHE IS NOT LEGALLY PRESENT IN THE US. Only these illegals will be denied licenses, because they should not be given licenses.
2. Isn't it better to have illegal aliens driving around with licenses than without them?
Answer: An illegal alien is a person who committed one crime by entering this country illegally; another crime by staying here; another by working here. It is laughable to believe that such a person will be changed into someone devoted to obeying the rules of the road because he has been given a driver's license.
There are many cases where illegals have bought cars, obtained insurance in order to register them and get plates, and then immediately cancelled the insurance. After an accident, the illegal, a person with no real identity and no social security number has no difficulty moving to another state and assuming a new identity, leaving the victim of his careless driving with no one, and no insurance company, to pay the hospital.
The fact that the illegal immigrant lobby admits many illegals drive without licenses is an admission of widespread contempt for the law.
Along the same lines, there are people who cheat on their taxes. It is not a valid argument to say that if we eliminated the taxes the tax cheats would become law-abiding citizens.
3. Couldn't the terrorists could have gotten on the planes with their passports?
Answer: After 9/11 it would be impossible for a group of young men from terrorist-sponsoring nations to get on airplanes with passports from those nations without raising alarms among the flight crew and security people.
4. Didn't the 9/11 terrorists have social security numbers and couldn't they get licenses even under this proposed law?
Answer: the Social Security Administration USED TO BE as negligent in giving social security numbers. This is no longer true, and illegal aliens and people like the terrorists could no longer get SSN's. Therefore, if states don't give licenses to illegals terrorists can't get them either.
5. Isn't immigration law a matter for the federal government, not the states?
Answer: Collection of the federal income tax is a federal matter, spying for a foreign government is a federal matter. Yet no one would suggest that states reward those who violate laws regarding these 'federal matters.'
6. Isn't it too much to expect DMV clerks to be responsible for making a determination as to who is legal and who is not?
Answer: True. The federal government makes this determination. If an applicant has documentation, the DMV clerk can process the application. If the applicant lacks federal documentation, either he/she must obtain it or the application cannot be processed. DMV simply relies on the federal government to provide a list of valid documentation.
If a state refuses to rely on the federal government's determination, then the only alternative is to expect DMV clerks to examine and verify documents from any of the over 150 countries around the world, and the thousands of provinces, cities, and other authorities with the power to issue official papers.
7. What are other states doing on this issue?
The few states that have given licenses to illegals and terrorists in the past are enacting laws to ban this practice. Florida stopped issuing to illegals in 2002. Kentucky enacted a ban in 2002. Virginia enacted a ban in March 2003. (The bill passed 82 to 16 in the House, 32 to 8 in the Senate.)
Bills to ban licenses for illegals and terrorists are now pending in the Tennessee and North Carolina legislatures. (Although the license reform bill has not yet come to a vote, a companion bill to prohibit acceptance by the state of identification cards issued by foreign consulates in the US to illegal aliens recently passed the Tennessee house 93 to zero.)
In California, supporters of giving licenses to terrorists have tried in each of the last two years to change the law to permit this practice, but both attempts have been killed.
In New York, special interests have tried to change the law to allow terrorists to get licenses but the attempts have essentially been laughed out of the legislature.
Maryland is the only state since 9/11 to make its licenses available to terrorists and illegals.
8. Is it Constitutional to deny licenses to illegals?
MOST STATES DENY DRIVERS' LICENSES TO ILLEGALS AND THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF SUCH LAWS IS UNQUESTIONED.
THERE IS NO LEGAL BASIS WHATSOEVER FOR THE CLAIM THAT AN ILLEGAL ALIEN HAS ANY 'RIGHT' TO A DRIVER'S LICENSE.
The families of the 3000 murdered on September 11 believe it is time that all states move to join the overwhelming majority of the states by enacting bills to ban issuance of drivers' licenses to illegal aliens and other lawbreakers.