Illegal Aliens Call Drivers Licenses Unfair


Sofia Moreno, with United Democrats, holds sign warning drivers of a Perris police checkpoint ahead.
Immigrant advocates say crackdown on unlicensed drivers unfair

By JULISSA McKINNON
May 15, 2010

Adrianna Castellon, 16, stood on the sidewalk of a busy Moreno Valley street on a recent school night, yelling at cars rushing past.

"Checkpoint! Checkpoint ahead!" she screamed. "Turn back while you can!"

The high school student was among protesters hoping to help illegal immigrants whose vehicles were about to be impounded by police because they were driving without a license. California law got tougher in 1993, requiring a social security card and other identification to get a license and barring most illegal immigrants from applying.

Isn’t that outrageous! Imagine having to have identification before being allowed to get a license which allows you to drive a lethal weapon. This is just like Nazi Germany.

Now the stricter license requirements and a rising number of checkpoints across the Inland area and state are stirring controversy that has reached a fever pitch in some cities with a large Latino population.

Critics say most Inland checkpoints economically punish illegal immigrants whose cars often are impounded for 30 days — the maximum time allowed — and can ill afford the approximately $2,000 to retrieve the vehicle. Protesters point out that drunken drivers usually lose their car for only one day. They say racial profiling is at play where checkpoints are placed.

Inland authorities said softer penalties, such as citations, for unlicensed drivers don’t work because many illegal immigrants lack identification and can’t be found if they skip court. Police say impounding cars is needed to deal with drivers without licenses, who account for about 40 percent of the nation’s hit-and-run crashes based on statistics of hit-and-run drivers who were caught. And police say that traffic volume, not a neighborhood’s racial composition, determines checkpoint locations.

The article doesn’t bother to mention that these illegal aliens also do not bother to have auto insurance, which is required in California.

Under community pressure, a few cities have dropped month-long car confiscation for a first-time unlicensed driving offense and instead hand out citations or do a one-day tow…

So that these wonderful people can continue to drive on the streets without insurance and ruin law-abiding people’s lives. Such as:

Lee Chauser, pulled aside recently at a Perris checkpoint, said an unlicensed driver once hit him.

"He almost killed me … He rear-ended me going 35 mph," the 64-year-old Hemet man said. "The government needs to find a way for the (illegal immigrants) to get trained and drive legally." …

Again, still no mention of the lack of insurance. If we can be required by law to have health insurance which (in a sane world) would affect no one but ourselves, why can’t illegal aliens be required to have car insurance?

Activists and illegal immigrants such as Elder Cabrera, a 40-year-old Corona resident, say month-long impounds are too harsh…

The cars should be impounded until the owner can produce a valid drivers license and proof of insurance. And until he has paid his fine for driving without these legal requirements…

Why should they ever get their cars back otherwise?

Later this year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments on a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California’s 30-day impound law.

Surely this is a lawsuit brought by the ACLU. Who, after all, support the right of illegal aliens to drive without a license or insurance over the rights of American citizens to use the roads that we pay for with our taxes without fear of having our lives destroyed by foreigners.

Lest we forget, the ACLU is a taxpayer subsidized 501c3 “charity.â€