Legal New Mexico Driver's Licenses Issued To Illegal Immigrants . . . What The . . .?

They make the fraudulent claim that they’re from NM, " . . . pass a written test and successfully show they can turn and stop and park. " and Voilà ! Here’s your new driver’s license !


Anything wrong with this ? What do you think ?

CSA

Hot button topic 'round these parts. ( I’m an Ohio born transplant )
On a larger scale just how much of an I.D. is a driver’s license supposed to be ?
How much of an I.D. has it morphed into over the decades ?
They’re debating that it is in fact proof that one is a capable DRIVER and does not link anyone in any state to citizenship anywhere.
It is not now, nor ever has been, in any state, proof of citizenship. It’s proof of residency. And that’s part of the debate…proving NM residency.
A person who has residency here and will be for any length of time can be licensed here too.

In years past, many citizens have had multiple driver’s licenses as they must operate in multiple states when they reside there for longer periods than just passing through. Yes, many laws have adapted to the multi interstate lifestyle of today but since when has an operators license been proof of citizenship ?
My pilot’s license has never been mistaken for a citizenship document.

Passsing the written test, driving around the block and parking gets EVERYONE a driver’s license…
and that’s MY gripe. That so few people actually KNOW how to operate the machine.

Since a driver’s license is , these days, being entrusted to indicate citizenship…
Do you think we need a higher court ruling for all states that would define the meaning of a driver’s license.
OR people just need to remember,
it is a DRIVER’S license.

Illegal alien ( key word - ‘illegal’ ), now that’s a whole other can of worms.
Get a green card.

I think it’s odd that we allow illegal immigrants to do the jobs that no one else will and won’t allow them a path to citizenship. The lowest paying jobs in my area are increasingly held by Hispanics; many of them can’t speak English yet. I don’t know how many are illegal, but I suppose that some are.

There is a proposal in the Maryland legislature to allow illegal immigrants to attend state universities with in-state tuition if they live in the state for at least 2 years and pay state taxes during those 2 years. How does someone maintain residence illegally and pay taxes without getting busted? It seems that the authorities must be turning a blind eye towards illegal immigration if this is possible. BTW, there are a lot of state residents that are against the in state tuition idea, even though it only grants the same status that any new state resident earns.

Is “illegal” just a code word for Mexicans, or should these harsh penalties be imposed on ALL immigrants with less than perfect paperwork?? Canadians, British, Germans, Japanese…Tens of thousands of them enter the U.S. every year and there is no record of them ever departing…Nobody seems to complain about them though…

Three million people immigrate legally to the U.S. every year. That’s 30 million new residents every 10 years…Are you sure it’s only the illegal ones that can not speak English and are hanging out in Home Depot parking lots at 6am every morning??

Jtsanders, there is a simple, and FREE path to legal citizenship. As long as they come over legally. I see NO reason for an illegal immigrant to be granted amnesty. They broke hte law just to come here. What kind of citizenship is that? The first thing the did in this country was break the law. How can we condone that? There’s an easy way to get citizenship, all they really need is a sponsor, then they can walk across the border legally with a visa. And then they have a certain amount of time to take the citizenship test and boom, they’re a legal citizen. There are tens of thousands of people accross the country willing to sponsor someone wishing legal citizenship, I’m one of them. But they have to do it legally.

I’m sorry, but as a people we have become too tolerant of some things, and not tolerant of others. We’ve become so compliant towards some people because we are afraid of offending anyone. We let certain things go unpunished, or we let others push us around. The worst thing is, welfare… and food stamps. Did you know that a student in college (married) and actively attending college can’t get food stamps if they are trying to better themselves because they aren’t working atleast so many hours of work study (20). Aims community college only allows 15 hours per week of work study… And yet an illegal immigrant who is not legally allowed to work can recieve food stamps if they have children.

The worst thing is in Colorado an illegal immigrant is not allowed to manage food stamps, or even have the card for it, and yet, since their children (the official benificiary) are under 18, they have to give the card to the parents, who aren’t going to refrain from eating the food they aren’t supposed to touch.

Illegal immigrants have a path, and we as a nation can do more to stop illegal immigration. But we can’t do that because it’s too costly. What needs to happen is we need to put a punishment for illegal immigration, it’s illegal for a reason. Did you also know that an illegal immigrant can get away with a felony in most states simply by self-deporting? Then we pay for a plane ticket to texas and march them across the border to Mexico. Then they just come back under a different name…

Thank you for putting that out Caddyman. We’re going to have to live with the freak out as long as economic times are shaky. Immigrant scapegoating/paranoia has been rising & falling w/ economic times all along. And of course it helps when they look funny and talk funny. You know…like all of those damn, drunken Irish.

Watch It With The Drunken Irish Quips !
:wink:

True story (I’ve got documents); My Great Grandfather Nicholas from Ireland came to this country through Ellis Island in the later half of the 19th century. Although he did a little drinking and was known to have a short fuse and was quick to fight when arguments broke out, he had one of those hard jobs that others may have passed-up. He worked long hours and hauled loads of bricks around the Haverstraw Brick Yard in Rockland County, New York.

All that work gave him very strong legs and he used that to advantage. He won several Walking Races (which were big at that time - late 1800s) where betting and money were a big part of this. At Madison Square Garden, NY he won the O’Leary Gold Belt (real gold) and $10,000 cash (quite a prize at that time). These races went for days and covered hundreds of miles on an oval track. He used this fame and later went into politics where he could employ his arguing and fighting abilities.

What’s different between then and what we’ve got going on now ?
He came here legally or he wouldn’t have come here.

Go ahead with the Irish jokes. I’m tough enough to handle it. Just don’t tell me to my face.

CSA

LOL CSA. Two of my great grandparents were probably on the same boat - so I actually should have cracked at myself instead of assuming it was obvious I was joking.

Seriously though there isn’t much that’s different. People hated those “dangerous & dirty & parasitic” immigrants then and they hate them now, and the intensity rises & falls with feelings of economic security. I’m not making that up. Its the way dominant/minority population dynamics most often work. Legal or not the basic scapegoating paranoia is the same either way.

CSA-- keep in mind there were no passports then and immigration as a whole was a lot easier.

Keep In Mind That U.S. Authorities Got A Good Look At People Entering The Country.
Many Were Rejected And Sent Away For A Host Of Reasons.

We’ve got people leaking in through our borders. Some wouldn’t have been turned away at Ellis Island, but many would have been sent packing.

The thing about legal immigration is that it gives the authorities a chance to filter out those who will only cost the U.S. money and perhaps lives.

You’re welcome here, but you’ll need to play by our rules.

CSA

Great reading today from the New York Times accessable from the MSN.com home page aboun the NM licensing debate.

The 14 million or so illegals in the US are partly the result of a flawed immigration system that makes it difficult to issue temporary permits to do harvest work and other seasonal activities. Shallow water in the Rio Grande is, of course, another major reason.

I was in Holland on vacation and saw Vietnamese workers picking strawberries on seasonal work permits. The business owner is legally responsible for providing these workers with shelter, food, health care, and making sure they return to their home country at the end of the season. Canada and many other countries have such a system. It also allows a legal temporary migrant to apply for permanent immigration status and eventual citizenship.

Agree that workers who come over legally should be able to get a driver’s license since many immigrant workers work as taxi drivers, delivery staff or operate road machinery.

Many countries have done a sloppy job accepting workers and losing track of them. At the other end of the scale, Switserland does not allow anyone to stay, and all workers have to go home eventually, as no mass immigration is allowed. They did make exceptions for such people as Charly Chaplin and the odd billionnaire, although even those cannot get Swiss citizenship.

What is a driver's license?  

It is a license to drive a car. It is not a citizenship indication.

                            On the statue of liberty:  

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, to me” .

How many of us were here before the native Americans? How did we become citizens. Most of us are US citizens because we happened to be born here. Most never made a choice. Why should we look down on those who desire to become citizens?

One of the requirements of a drivers license is 2 forms of id. These are typically a birth certificate and social security card. In fact the states each have a list of acceptable forms of ID. Yet they ignore the requirements and give illegal immigrants a drivers license anyway.

Heard this on npr, why do we not do this for citizens?

‘Taking Advantage Of America’s Stupidity’

Nicol is participating in a program called Start-Up Chile, a government-sponsored effort that offers entrepreneurs visas and $40,000 to help start their businesses.

http://m.npr.org/news/front/139798265?page=1

I have a license in good standing, no tickets in the last 5 years, no accidents for 10 years, always had my drivers license from the same state, since my 16th birthday, and when I went to renew my license, they didn’t want to let me, because I couldn’t “prove permanent residency”. I live in an rv on private land, receive mail at a po box, that wasn’t good enough for them. I pay utilities and property taxes on multiple investment properties, but I don’t live there.

I actually had to leave that building and submit less than honest documentation at another facility. How can it be so hard for me, but so easy for the illegals?

All of these easements if you will, that negates the responsibility of our citizenry being legal stem from our corporate base and it’s insatiable appetite to not only send labor over seas but bring 3rd world labor here to avoid minimum wage and benefits packages. Politicians supported by corporate sponsorship say one thing out of one side of their mouth during election time and do something else while in office. By do, I mean nothing.
It’s the same mentality that built our infrastructure in the 19 th century with slave labor.

England is suffer now with it’s influx of Muslim immigrants and their non assimilation policy of allowing them their own autonomy. I may sound like a bigot, but at some point, there should be a national standard that all have to follow to reap the benefits of living here. Otherwise, chaos, much like which is experienced in England will be the norm. Anything for a corporate buck. And, until we tighten up our election laws with respect to who can finance them, it will get worse before it gets better.

There are tens of thousands of people accross the country willing to sponsor someone wishing legal citizenship, I’m one of them. But they have to do it legally.

Let me clarify something. It is common for those angry about illegals to assume if they weren’t simply lazy, they could apply legally and come in. Of the 12 or so million illegal Mexicans in the US, if they had all applied correctly in the system, the number who would have received entry visas would be: 000.000. Every person who can come in legally is already coming in legally.

That is why they come in illegally. I am not saying that justifies coming in illegally. But, it does explain it.

As far as the sponsorship thing, that is pure nonsense. I believe years ago that program did exist. Now, it’s only for hard to fill jobs, and the Mexican has to be something like a programmer or engineer or doctor, and only a certified employer can sponsor them for work. But, for many years there has been no sponsorship program for ordinary Mexicans. Period. If you think so, hit Google and show us. The immigration folks have oodles of Internet pages, and so do various law firms who will help people get immigration status.I would be more than glad to sponsor some good Mexicans, but I am not an employer so I cannot.

I know. My wife is Mexican, and I live in Mexico. I know illegals on both sides of the border. I tell them, don’t go, they hate you there. But, most men on this board, in spite of their pious talk, if the tables were turned, and men could not find jobs in the US month after month (Oh, wait a minute!!!) but could in Mexico, they’d be going illegally, too. That is what men everywhere do to feed their families.

In the US, first we debate, then we vote. On this topic, there has been little debate. But, they did vote, and the anti’s won. so, that settles that. So, even though I am in favor of amnesty for a variety of reasons (including the other most likely choice clearly is Sharia law, like Europe) it is settled for now. But it would seem reasonable for those who are anti’s to know their own immigration laws. To think any Mexican who isn’t lazy can simply apply and come in, or find a friend to sponsor them, is really pretty pathetic.

My BIL is retired from a cane factory in Vera Cruz state. He wanted to visit the US as a tourist, to see where his sister lives, and to visit Yellowstone. I made sure he had everything that they use as an excuse to turn them down. He took his deeds to his rental property. He took his retirement papers, and his retirement income. He showed he had money saved for a few weeks in the US. He documented he had a sister there. Everything they usually use as an excuse to reject it. I was confident he’d get his tourist visa.

They turned him down anyway. A week’s pay to apply and they mumbled due to current circumstances, I assume the problems at the border. And, told him maybe he could apply again some other time. He got up and walked out. That’s how they treat people who apply legally. I am not saying he won’t go but I am sure he will not apply again. A week’s pay, and he met all requirements, and they still turned him down. That is why people go illegally.

Now, it’s only for hard to fill jobs

That’s called a H1B Visa. I’ve worked with many. Most are from India. The number of them are limited to about 200k.

“That’s called a H1B Visa. I’ve worked with many.”

They are well educated and the type of immigrant we are most willing to bring in. Also, India does not have a reputatiion for exporting huge ammounts of illicit drugs to the US. I wonder how many Mexican professionals woudl be allowed to do the same thing? Judging by irlandes post, not many.