Getting a state car tag is too easy
June 29, 2008
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Undocumented workers, drug dealers and terrorists know that it's a snap to get a car tag in AlabaÂ*ma, the top Homeland Security agent in the state told me.

Montgomery is in the process of implementing a new ordinance that would fine business owners who employ people without the proper citizenship credentials. That's fine, but one big law could solve a lot of little problems.

It's hard to get to work, deal drugs or transport dirty bombs without a car.

A St. Clair County woman and two others are facing fraud charges for purchasing more than 10,000 Alabama car tags and titles from the St. Clair County Probate office over a two-year period. St. Clair County Assistant District Attorney Carol Boone believes the women sold the tags and titles to undocumented workers, providÂ*ing false addresses.

The Talladega Daily Home quoted the defense attorneys for the women saying they did nothÂ*ing illegal.

Maybe they didn't.

"She's by no means the only one in Alabama doing that," said Mickey Pledger, the state's superÂ*visory special agent for ImmigraÂ*tion and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security. "She's just the most prolific by numbers."

Pledger and his staff have caught more than a few people who had no business with AlabaÂ*ma car tags. Getting a car tag in Alabama is preposterously easy -- all you need is an address. It doesn't even have to be your adÂ*dress if you don't mind lying, and lying comes easy to drug runners, smugglers and terrorists.

Pledger had praise for AlabaÂ*ma's stringent requirements to get a driver's license. He said if you see somebody with an Alabama driver's license, they're on our side. Alabama's policy of allowing state troopers to enforce immigraÂ*tion laws is a good thing, too.

But to get a car tag you don't have to present a driver's license, and while the law says that you have to present proof of insurance, few counties make you do so.

Residents of Florida do have to present a driver's license and proof of insurance. Many FloridiÂ*an evildoers drive across the state line to get their car tags and use a friend's address, Pledger said.

He and his staff of about 40 do criminal investigations of drug smuggling, money laundering, inÂ*ternational financial crimes, terÂ*rorists, suspicious high-tech exÂ*ports, cyber crime, cyber smuggling -- as well as all immiÂ*gration.

Undocumented laborers on a construction site are a pretty low priority.

"People call and tell me, 'You need to check this,'" he said. "I tell them, 'What would you rather me look into? Some guy mailing F-14 parts to Iraq or some guy working on a roof?'"

He has to prioritize to stretch resources, to protect the United States from threats domestic and abroad. But these days, Americans seem more upset about undocuÂ*mented workers swinging hamÂ*mers and hanging Sheetrock.

"Immigration is the thing evÂ*erybody sees because that's the flavor of the month right now," he said. "But our caseload in other stuff has not slackened."

Pledger said he always tries to talk to reporters.

"Talking to you guys is the only way to get things out to the pubÂ*lic," he said. "A lot of people in my position go away from the media. But it's a big part of my job -- to let the public know our problems. The public talks to Congress, and ConÂ*gress helps me out with my workÂ*load."

If we wanted to, the people of Alabama really could help out with his workload -- or our elected officials could: Make it harder to get a car tag.

Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, has, since 1999, proposed different versions of a bill that would reÂ*quire residents to show proof of automobile insurance to receive a car tag. That would diminish the 1.1 million uninsured motorists on our roads and make it harder for evildoers do business here.

It also would make the informaÂ*tion instantaneously available to law enforcement. As things are now, someone driving an uninÂ*sured vehicle gets a ticket and drives away. The new law would allow cops to nail violators' feet to the ground.

It would make our roads -- and our country -- safer.

Tom Ensey can be reached at 240-0192 or by e-mail at tenÂ*sey@gannett.com with ideas or suggestions for columns
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