Thread: NC Immigrant licenses atop group's goals

Immigrant licenses atop group's goals

El Pueblo, advocates craft agenda to push on N.C. lawmakers
DÁNICA COTO
dcoto@charlotteobserver.com

Latino advocates say they'll start lobbying N.C. legislators for driver's licenses, in-state tuition and wage enforcement for those who are undocumented, likely heating up the illegal immigration debate.

It's the first time advocacy groups across the state have created one agenda, which was released Tuesday by El Pueblo, a Raleigh-based nonprofit.

The agency's top priority is to push for a special driver's license for illegal immigrants. Several states already use such an alternative.

After North Carolina started requiring a valid Social Security number or a valid visa to obtain a driver's license, many illegal immigrants chose to drive without one because they still have to work and take their children to school, said Zulayka Santiago, El Pueblo's executive director.

"When you have drivers on the roads not fully informed of our traffic laws, that puts all our communities in danger," she said.

El Pueblo also wants an increase in funding for the Wage and Hour Division of the N.C. Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration so it can respond to complaints about immigrants not getting paid.

Many workers in Charlotte say they're waiting to receive anywhere from $300 to $2,000 for temporary jobs, said Raquel Lynch, programs director at the Latin American Coalition.

Ron Woodard, director of the immigration reform group N.C. Listen, questions such proposals. If you're in the country illegally, you're not supposed to have a job anyway, he said.

"We're treating possible illegals with kid gloves," he said.

El Pueblo's Legislative Priorities

• Lobby for creation of a special driver's license for illegal immigrants.

• Create a program to certify educated immigrants, using their foreign job credentials, so they can work in their field.

• Ensure all N.C. students have access to a higher education, including receiving in-state tuition.

• Enforce safe migrant farmworker conditions to prevent such things as pesticide poisonings.

http://www.charlotte.com/112/story/65595.html

Quite a little wish list.

They left out the one about wanting taxpayers to fund English classes in all "immigrant" communities.

From someone that has lived in a state that has granted DLs to illegals for several years now.. (Oregon: about 8th highest in illegal population, and about the same in identity theft as well [7th?])

DON'T DO IT!!!

Regardless of the merits/demerits of the proposition itself, the mess that will ensue from identity theft and document fraud alone will irreparably screw things up. It's like hanging a big sign at your state boundary: 'ID theft easy or allowed here!'

And, does the DMV administer the driving test in Spanish (or other language)?
Because, it is *sort of important* to be able to read and understand all those little painted pieces of metal out by the roadway called traffic signs.

Ron Woodard, director of the immigration reform group N.C. Listen, questions such proposals. If you're in the country illegally, you're not supposed to have a job anyway, he said.

Touche!

"When you have drivers on the roads not fully informed of our traffic laws, that puts all our communities in danger," she said.

Logic would tell you that NOT having a driver's license would make people more careful, so as not to be caught. However, when does logic ever enter illegal aliens minds?? If anything, giving them license will put people on the road that normally wouldn't be there. They will be on the road a LOT more than necessary because they have a license.

Hopefully, people are watching. Just fired off a letter to my
state rep, Grier Martin.

Here's a follow up on the story above


http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1251235/

Driver's Licenses for Illegal Immigrants Urged

Posted: Today at 6:23 p.m.
Updated: 57 minutes ago
Raleigh — A Latino advocacy group has called on state lawmakers to ease the requirements that immigrants have to meet to obtain a driver's license, saying it would make the roads safer.
One of the main thrusts of El Pueblo's legislative agenda is to ensure all drivers on North Carolina roads are properly trained, licensed and insured, regardless of immigration status.
"What we are interested in is having driver's licenses (serve as) some kind of identity document that is safe, that is valid, that allows people to be insured on our roads," said Marisol Jimenez, advocacy director for El Pueblo.
State law requires people applying for driver's licenses to show a valid Social Security card or visa.
Jimenez said the rule affects more than 100,000 people—not just Hispanics—who are driving illegally in North Carolina.
Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger said giving licenses to illegal immigrants isn't an idea that will go far in the state.
"The constituents I represent, and a vast majority of North Carolinians, would think, if someone is here illegally, they should not have a license at all," said Berger, R-Rockingham. "The state of North Carolina should not impact policies that encourage more and more people to come here."
Both Jimenez and Berger said the state's immigration problems are the results of federal policy. North Carolina has one of the fastest-growing illegal populations in the U.S.
"Thousands and thousands of people ... are going to continue living in this state until we can fix a broken immigration system," Jimenez said.
"I call on our congressmen to do something about this situation when we've got a flood of people coming into this country illegally," Berger said.
El Pueblo's legislative agenda also calls for providing all North Carolina students, including illegal immigrants, access to in-state tuition at University of North Carolina system campuses. A similar proposal failed during last year's legislative session.
Reporter: Dan Bowens
Photographer: Terry Cantrell
Web Editor: Matthew Burns
Copyright 2007 by WRAL.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I saw the news tonight.

WRAL did the story about the three illegals selling fake documents in Hoke as the first part of the illegal immigration segment. Then El Pueblo's wish list.

Way to go WRAL!

Illegals and their supporters have more gull then Carter has Little Liver pills!!!!!!!
I was born and raised here and if I acted like the illegals I'd be setting in jail.