Thread: N.J.: A new deal for migrants?

A new deal for migrants?
Sunday, January 4, 2009
BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
The governor's immigration advisory panel this week is expected to consider recommendations that the state allow undocumented immigrants to drive with a special "driver privilege card" and to attend college at in-state tuition rates, two Hispanic leaders say.

The recommendations are among several from subcommittees of Governor Corzine's Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Policy, which will meet Tuesday in New Brunswick. The Hispanic leaders, who are not panel members, said that New Jersey Public Advocate Ron Chen told them at a meeting last month that the recommendations would be included in the panel's report to Corzine.

The "driving privilege card" would allow undocumented immigrants, who are forbidden from obtaining driving licenses in New Jersey, to drive legally. But it would not have the same identification function of a standard driver's license. Many undocumented immigrant students forgo higher education, which often requires them to pay higher, out-of-state tuition.

"Those are the big issues, as far as many leaders of ethnic communities are concerned," said Daniel Santo-Pietro, executive director of the Hispanic Directors Association in New Brunswick, an umbrella group. Santo-Pietro says he has been in regular contact with Chen's staff and with panel members. Laureana Organ of Montvale, who attended the meeting with Chen as a representative of the Dominican American Council, confirmed Santo-Pietro's account of the meeting.

A spokeswoman for Chen would not say whether the items would be among the recommendations.

The spokeswoman, Laurie Brewer, said that the panel on Tuesday will consider a draft, which she described as voluminous, of its report on integrating both legal and illegal immigrants into the state's economy and civic life. She said that the panel will submit its report and recommendations to the governor by month's end. Issues such as the driver's card and in-state tuition, she said, would likely need legislative approval if they end up among the recommendations.

For their part, those who favor strict immigration policies vow to fight any efforts to grant driving privileges and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

"There'll be a real firestorm of anger among the citizens of New Jersey if the governor tries to get driver cards or in-state tuition passed by the Legislature," said Gayle Kesselman of Carlstadt, the co-chairwoman of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control. "In this economy, they'd be asking citizens who are trying to figure out how to put their children through college to also support people who are not supposed to be here in the first place."

Others, such as Anastasia Mann of the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics, disagree.

"New Jersey has been squeezing the labor out of its immigrants without doing anything to integrate them," said Mann, noting that a recently released Rutgers University report said that immigrants make up 28 percent of the state's workforce and account for nearly a quarter of all earnings. "Some of that has been left to non-profits and churches."

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, who is an immigration attorney and panel member, said that the two issues, among the most controversial in the nationwide debate on immigration, were "heavily discussed" among the group.

But Wildes added that he did not know if those two items would "make the cut" of the report to the governor, who gave the panel more than a year to conduct research and hold public hearings. He said some members felt that "New Jersey should not get entangled in the driver-license issue."

Corzine established the panel in August 2007, a response to the frustration of local officials and political leaders across the nation after Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform.


http://www.northjersey.com/news/norther ... 55254.html

"There'll be a real firestorm of anger among the citizens of New Jersey if the governor tries to get driver cards or in-state tuition passed by the Legislature," said Gayle Kesselman of Carlstadt, the co-chairwoman of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control. "In this economy, they'd be asking citizens who are trying to figure out how to put their children through college to also support people who are not supposed to be here in the first place."

I believe this is true and certainly hope so. No matter how the pro-illegal alien, anti-American worker crowd tries to spin this, it is simply unconscionable of them to try to give more benefits and privileges for those are not supposed to be here -- especially in this terrible economy.

Originally Posted by Populist

"There'll be a real firestorm of anger among the citizens of New Jersey if the governor tries to get driver cards or in-state tuition passed by the Legislature," said Gayle Kesselman of Carlstadt, the co-chairwoman of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control. "In this economy, they'd be asking citizens who are trying to figure out how to put their children through college to also support people who are not supposed to be here in the first place."

I believe this is true and certainly hope so. No matter how the pro-illegal alien, anti-American worker crowd tries to spin this, it is simply unconscionable of them to try to give more benefits and privileges for those are not supposed to be here -- especially in this terrible economy.

Yea, agree 100%! We need to stay on top of this one.

The recommendations are among several from subcommittees of Governor Corzine's Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Policy, which will meet Tuesday in New Brunswick.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA

Who is on this so called Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Policy

Jose
Jose
and Emileo

man I needed a good laugh

People of JOYSEY (New Jersey) if you allow this NUT to do this too you through Higher Taxes ... be my guest ... thats the only way it is going to happen

ask to see specifically which part of his obligations to the people entitle him to do that or is he streeeeeetching his role in government a bit too much and doing it on your dime

The governor's immigration advisory panel this week is expected to consider recommendations that the state allow undocumented immigrants to drive with a special "driver privilege card" and to attend college at in-state tuition rates, two Hispanic leaders say.

Have these people completely lost their minds? Americans HAVE HAD IT WITH ALL OF THIS B.S.

I watched Corzine get interviewed on PBS. They were discussing the Obama Infrastructure rebuild plan to create jobs. The PBS interviewer asked Corzine how that would help. She pointed out that all the workers from Wall Street wouldn't be attracted to that work. Corzine said he didn't expect those workers would take up the long end of a shovel. He said we'd had a housing boom that now has surplus workers that will now work the infrastructure projects. Now we all know who those folks are that built houses. This will be the "we require all our sub-contractors to supply legal workers" shuffle again. They're setting up to support the invasion with tax dollars. We really need to stop them from doing that. Hope we can make it an Alipac objective.

[quote]GOVERNOR CORZINE CREATES BLUE RIBBON PANEL ON IMMIGRANT POLICYBy Governors Press...
LIBERTY STATE PARK –Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed an Executive Order establishing a Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Policy that will develop recommendations for a comprehensive and strategic statewide approach to successfully integrating immigrants in the State.


“For years New Jersey has been a gateway to America – a place of opportunity and new beginnings,â€

Proposals on immigrants may include driver 'cards'
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

An immigration advisory panel on Tuesday finished a report on immigrants in New Jersey and is sending it to Governor Corzine, who had asked for guidance on how to serve and integrate the state's foreign-born population, one of the largest in the nation.

Among the recommendations that the panel had considered were allowing illegal immigrants, who at present are not allowed to obtain driver licenses, to drive with a so-called driver privilege card, and to attend college at in-state tuition rates. It is unclear, however, whether those items, which were among the most controversial recommendations the panel was considering, survived the final draft that is en route to Corzine.

A spokeswoman for state Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen, who led the panel, said the report was likely to be in the governor's office within a week. Corzine created the panel in 2007, giving it 18 months to study various aspects of immigrant life in the state — including housing, education, labor and health – and put their findings in a report.

"They told us not to discuss the specifics of the report or the recommendations," said panel member Martin Perez of New Brunswick, an attorney who is president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. "They feel that it would be counterproductive to leak information before the governor has a chance to read it and make decisions."

Laurie Brewer, a spokeswoman for Chen, said the Public Advocate's Office wanted to leave it up to the governor to release the report and comment on it.

In recent days, leaders of two Hispanic organizations who met with Chen in December told The Record that the public advocate had said the recommendations would include allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver cards, which would not have the same identification function as a full-fledged license, and to attend college at in-state tuition rates. At least one panel member, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, had said that while the two items had been discussed as recommendations, it was not certain that they would survive "the final cut" of the report.

But groups that favor strict immigration enforcement vowed to fight attempts to grant such privileges to undocumented immigrants, saying that to do so was rewarding illegal behavior. They said New Jersey would be rolling out a red carpet to illegal immigrants from states with stricter policies.

Panel member Perez balked at the criticism.

"There's no red carpet," he said. "And if it is red, it's because of the blood – the sacrifices – that immigrants, regardless of status, have made for the economy and other facets of life in New Jersey and the United States."


http://www.northjersey.com/news/aroundnj/37190684.html

BRAMNICK: UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS SHOULDN'T GET DRIVING PRIVILEGES
By Greg Volpe

GOV. JON S. CORZINE'S IMMIGRATION PANEL MAY PROPOSE PERKS FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS THAT WOULD NOT BE FEASIBLE

Assembly Republican Whip Jon Bramnick said the Corzine administration should dismiss out-of-hand any suggestion that illegal immigrants get driver’s licenses.

Reports have surfaced that Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s immigration panel is considering recommending that the governor grant such perks despite obvious security and feasibility concerns.

“Residents have to gather their six points of identification to prove their identification at the Motor Vehicle Commission, but now the governor may consider giving a driver’s license to people who can’t legally prove who they are,â€

Deny privileges to illegal aliens
January 6, 2009

Read Comments(70)
A panel advising Gov. Jon Corzine on immigration issues is considering recommending "driver privilege cards" and in-state college discounts for undocumented immigrants. State lawmakers, who would have to sign off on both ideas legislatively, should make it clear the recommendations would fall on deaf ears.

As the Corzine administration prepares to make cuts in municipal aid and reduce services available to New Jersey's legal residents, it would be unconscionable to send out the welcome wagon for those who are here illegally, putting further strain on schools, hospitals and social services.

Extending privileges to those who broke the law to get here — and continue breaking the law by staying — sends all the wrong messages. It tacitly endorses illegal residency and violating federal laws, and it serves notice on other immigrants that the benefits of entering this country unlawfully are well worth the risks.

The illegal immigration problem has been largely ignored by the federal government, which has the responsibility for dealing with it. The Corzine administration should be pressing Washington to get a handle on the problem rather than developing state policies that will only make it worse.

When Corzine created the immigration panel, which is expected to discuss its draft recommendations at a meeting today, he said his aim was to help integrate legal and illegal immigrants into the state's economy and civic life. That is a goal most New Jersey residents do not share. They want their government to enforce the immigration laws on the books and to implement policies that will discourage people from entering the country illegally. Creating a driver privilege card and providing reduced in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants is an affront to taxpayers and to immigrants who complied with the law in gaining citizenship.

Corzine should lobby the incoming Obama administration and the state's congressional delegation to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill that provides for secure borders and stiff penalities for businesses that hire undocumented workers, and empowers local police to enforce immigration laws.

In the meantime, jobs are becoming scarce while unethical contractors and businesses continue to exploit illegal immigrants with below-market, off-the-books wages that make it even more difficult for legal residents to find work. The state should be doing everything in its power to reverse the flow of illegal immigrants into New Jersey, not dreaming up new ways to accelerate it.

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