Kerry opposes driver's licenses for illegal immigrants

[Khephra]

Democrat John Kerry said he opposes state laws that give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, a position that puts him at odds with the Hispanic activists he is courting in the presidential race.

Immigrant advocates have been pushing for the laws, saying they help undocumented workers get around safely. Licensed drivers know the rules of the road and can buy insurance, making streets safer for everyone, they say.

Shortly after Kerry told the National Council of La Raza on Tuesday that he would make immigration reform a top priority to ease the path to citizenship for working immigrants, he took a tougher stance on the issue of driver's licenses in an interview with the Spanish-language network Telemundo.

"I think that driver's licenses are part of the legality of being here and if you've been here a period of time we may work something out as part of that immigration process, but I wouldn't give somebody who is automatically one year in here illegally all the rights and privileges of being here legally," Kerry said in the interview.

"I think that's wrong. That defeats the purposes of the law," he said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/30/politics1736EDT0718.DTL

[Radical Activist]

1. "Defeats the purpose of the law"

and I guess the purpose of this law is to margainalize, discriminate against and keep out Mexicans. Some laws SHOULD be defeated. Kerry can go Dick Cheney.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Radical Activist]

26. Do you have an argument to back that up?

Or do you just argue that Kerry is always right, like he's Jesus?

I will criticize Kerry for doing stupid things even if he is the nominee. That's the only way the party will get better.

[Jim Sagle]

30. They're here illegally. What else is there to say about it?

[Radical Activist]

31. The idea of a human being illegal is offensive

What else is there to say about that? Why should an imaginary line in the ground be cause to treat other human beings like dirt?

[Jim Sagle]

32. They're not illegal humans, just illegal aliens. If they return home,

they'll be fine.

[DavidMS]

19. Drivers liciences are used for other things...

for instance for someone to legaly buy a firearm from a Federaly Licenced Dealer they need to present a drivers licence.

I don't want to get into guns are good/guns are evil rantfest but I don't know how to offer undocumented drivers licences without running into firearms regulations.

[Radical Activist]

27. The maybe the answer is to change the gun control laws

instead of keeping thousands of immigrants on the fringe of society.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

2. Sorry, but illegal or not...

"Licensed drivers know the rules of the road and can buy insurance, making streets safer for everyone, they say".

Okay, granted.

Now, how do we keep illegal immigrants OFF the roads who DON'T PASS the test (less educated), don't want to take the test (fear of INS), or have no way of taking the test (migratory in the fields)...

So what are we talking about 10% of illegal immigrants actually taking and passing the tests while 90% don't bother/fail/don't care?

It's a wedge issue.. nothing more.

[JayS]

10. Good luck buying insurance without a social security number...

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

11. One of these days, 'they' will actually stand up and identify themselves!

[auburnblu]

3. Would a driver license make you documented

The demographically sensitive term for those in the U.S., maybe other countries use this term too, is undocumented or perhaps undocumented resident is even more sensitive. What happens when you're undocumented and you go and get an official id from a governmental institution in the U.S., i.e driver's license. The IRS issues taxpayer identification numbers to anyone. How can you be called undocumented with an IRS taxpayer number and an official driver's license. Seems like a new term needs to replace undocumented.


My problem with Kerry on immigration is I saw a speech he gave back in December and he spoke on how dangerous it was to cross into the U.S. illegally and he wanted to make doing so easier, not legal, but he wanted to make breaking U.S. law easier. Why in the hell didn't he focus on a work visitor/transition to citizen program idea instead, thus holy smokes making the trip safer and legal. I think he is clueless on how to deal with this issue, hopefully his VP pick and his cabinent after election will have a better idea.

[Ivan Zero]

4. He's pandering to the xenophobes

and doing it on Telemundo?

Jesus! Who made that boneheaded decision?

[dolstein]

7. As opposed to pandering to illegal immigrants?

Spare me.

[Ivan Zero]

13. No, as opposed to not pandering to either. n/t

[dolstein]

21. In order words, pandering to YOU

You blithely assume that if Kerry takes a position you disagree when, then obviously be must be pandering. Yeah, right.

[Ivan Zero]

22. I'm looking at this from a purely political angle.

It's a can of worms that Kerry doesn't need to open, IMO. It's a decision for individual states to handle, and it detracts from the federal immigration issues he'll actually be facing.

[ZR2]

5. Why don't they just become

LEGAL immigrants.

[Leilani]

6. This is the position Arnold took in California...

& he won among all groups, including Latinos.

[dolstein]

8. Good point

When even Latinos don't like the idea of giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, I find it odd that people who choose to characterize this position as anti-Hispanic.

[NMDemDist2]

18. i canvassed for ACT in a poor Latino neighborhood and to a person

when asked what their "issues" were, immigration came up in the top 3. The legal Hispanics are against any amnesty programs and want the borders secured better to stop the flow of illegals.

One of the biggest crime issues we have here in Phoenix is the "coyotes" (one who smuggles people into the country for a fee) killing each other or mistreating their "clients"

[auburnblu]

28. Bet La Raza likes it

The problem is that La Raza probably is a strong supporter of it and like the NAACP, if they support something, doesn't matter if an overwhelming % of the demographic group they say they represent wants it, they will start using terms like racist and sell-out to get their position supported. Do the majority of poor blacks seem to favor school vouchers, yep, does the NCAAP, I think not. So who wins, the NCAPP of course. And if you're a black person with kids who supports vouchers, get ready to be called a sell-out.

Issues like this give political power to La Raza, so of course they want to push it. The "you're a racist" or "you're a sellout" tag is like being called a "commie" back in the day. Thus some issues like this can't be discussed honestly and openly.

[JI7]

25. i live in Southern California

and it was interesting at first to hear many latinos agree with not providing drivers licenses. and these people aren't anti illegal immigration. they DO support providing kids with public education since they don't want to punish kids for being here illegally . and they still support providing emergency health care. but on things like drivers licenses they tend to support restrictions. they also tend to support things like requiring kids to learn english in schools.

[Don_G]

9. I Agree

If the illegals want to work in the US so much, they can go through the process of becoming legal citizens in every sense of the word.

Interim licenses may be okay for those who are in the process of applying for citizenship IMHO.

[idontwantaname]

12. IGNORANT ungreatful opinion.

.

[hightime]

14. When you call someone else ignorant you might want to spell

ungrateful correctly. Did you know the DU has a free spell checker?

[geek tragedy]

17. At least he/she didn't call the other poster a "moran" eom

[GingerSnaps]

35. Maybe they can't spell the word spell

:shrug:

[Jim Sagle]

16. Kerry RAWWWWWWWWWKSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

[Dr Fate]

20. So become legal- then get your govt. documents.

I'm all for legal, controlled immigration.

[TexasBushwhacker]

23. I'm with Kerry on this

When we give things like driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, it's just one more thing that makes it easier for them to stay marginalized. They work for cash for employers that pay substandard wages and no benefits, workers compensations insurance, etc. Staying illegal means that they and their families don't get counted for census purposes, which is a horrendous drain on our education and health systems.

What REALLY needs to be done is coming down, HARD, on the employers that give illegals work. I have a neocon ex-boss that would fall into that category. At least he paid them fairly, but I know they weren't paying taxes.

[westhollywooddem]

24. Irreleavant

Only border states are concerned about illegal immigrants


California: pro Kerry by a landslide.

Arizona: iffy about Kerry so I would play the game.


Texas: pro Bush so it cannot hurt Kerry.

Our duty is to get Bush out of office and "hello"
illegal immigrants cannot vote.

Can we fight the important battles and get Bush out of office?

[Peregrine]

29. Why not say

that it is an issue for each state to decide, and the fed's have no jurisdiction.

[Ivan Zero]

33. Exactly right - it's a state by state issue.

Kerry won't be dealing with this issue as president. All he needs to say is, it's up to the states.

[nolabels]

34. The A.P. and this Rag of paper, just more B.S.

The story is spun the wrong way, why are they not asking *. Later in the story they say this

This is one of those issues that affect people every day in their day to day lives," Munoz said.

Kerry spokesman David Wade said Wednesday that Kerry thinks it is a state responsibility to decide who gets a driver's license. Wade said Kerry would not support any federal efforts to stop states from giving them to illegal immigrants.

President Bush's re-election campaign did not return telephone calls about his position on the issue. Bush also is campaigning for the Hispanic vote, which went for Democrat Al Gore, 62 percent to 35 percent, in the 2000 race.



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