Elsmere again takes responsibility from state and federal le

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Elsmere again takes responsibility from state and federal levels
Posted Wednesday, September 27, 2006
OUR VIEW

The Town of Elsmere government says there's a shortage of parking spaces in certain areas. So under a year-old ordinance, landlords and renters must provide a copy of the official state registration card for every vehicle a tenant owns, leases or operates.

Under another ordinance passed in June, Elsmere made it illegal to stop or park a vehicle with out-of-state registration on a town road after 60 days of residence in Delaware. The 60-day rule comes from the state code. This ordinance also says that renters' information or any other probable cause will be used against vehicle owners.

The Elsmere crackdown is obviously not about parking, but about immigrants living in the town.

While police elsewhere usually cite expired vehicle registration in the event of other traffic violations, Elsmere is keeping a database on renters only. People who own property in town are not required to submit their vehicle information.

Councilwoman Joann Personti sponsored the law requiring landlords to provide descriptions of vehicles. According to her letter on this page, she prefers to think she's saving immigrants from exploitation. In earlier comments to The News Journal, she cited vehicle violations at the Fenwick Park apartments, which have many Latino tenants.

At least Councilman John Jaremchuk comes right out and says that local government should enforce laws against illegal immigrants, even get them to leave town. He proposed enforcing the 60-day vehicle registration rule. In 2005, he tried but failed to get local laws to penalize landlords for renting to undocumented immigrants and to impose fines on people who couldn't produce immediate proof of citizenship whenever police asked.

Those tactics amounted to discriminatory civil rights violations. The claim that Elsmere property values had suffered also proved completely wrong.

But traffic and vehicle laws do apply to everyone. If Elsmere government is taking a law-and-order stance, then its ordinances on vehicle registration should be made to apply to every resident without distinction as well.

However, immigrants interviewed at Fenwick Park also admitted that registering cars through friends or relatives in Pennsylvania is a common way around lack of documentation.

And, indeed, the Pennsylvania system is wide open for abuse. While Pennsylvania law is similar in requiring proof of in-state residence and timely licensure and vehicle registration, applicants are allowed to go through business agents -- not just official state sites.

The Delaware Transportation Department knows there's a problem with illegal tags because of this, and notifies Pennsylvania when such plates are turned in to motor vehicle offices. Otherwise, enforcement on the roads is left as a police matter.

Discrepancies in licensing and registration should be addressed on the state level. Pennsylvania's loopholes become Delaware's problems, or any other state that cannot rely on valid reciprocal documentation.

And this is where the Town of Elsmere's arguments fall down again. It resorts to irritating and intimidating those immigrants who live there. The resolution to immigration is a federal responsibility. Motor vehicles come under state jurisdiction. Elsmere cannot singlemindedly take over.

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At least Councilman John Jaremchuk comes right out and says that local government should enforce laws against illegal immigrants, even get them to leave town. He proposed enforcing the 60-day vehicle registration rule.

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This rag would have it's readers believe that Jaremchuk proposed the registration rule simply because he could, which is false. FACT: It was proposed due to the outrageous number of complaints town leaders have been receiving from the residents of Elsmere! Heaven help anyone that lives near Fenwick Apartments if they dont have a driveway, and those lucky enough to have driveways often find them partially blocked. I have seen it myself many times, and yes, 9 out of 10 cars parked on those clogged streets after 7pm (or on weekends) have PA plates!

What really hacks me off though is that, once again, the paper is twisting a legal issue into a racial issue. When an officer tickets a car that has exceeded the states 60 day registration requirement how, exactly, is he/she targeting "undocumented immigrants", when he/she has no clue as to the legal status of the owner!