Thread: TX: DPS wants checkpoints to target ILLEGAL immigrants —

Critics cry foul over DPS license checkpoint plan
Some lawmakers say stops would unfairly target illegal immigrants
By JAMES PINKERTON and SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 12, 2008, 7:04AM


The state agency that imposed new rules barring illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses is requesting authority to set up statewide driver's license checkpoints, part of what several lawmakers suspect is a plan to crack down on illegal immigrants.

A number of state legislators argue the Department of Public Safety Commission overstepped its authority Aug. 25 by issuing new rules requiring applicants to prove they are here legally before they can obtain or renew a Texas driver's license. Their suspicions deepened when, two weeks later, the commission's chairman asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott if it was legal for the commission to set up driver's license checkpoints.

Staffed by state troopers or local police, the checkpoints would stop drivers to review their licenses, vehicle registrations and proof of insurance.

State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, believes the two commission actions are taking aim at policing immigration.

''A state agency is making immigration policy for the state of Texas, and that is not their job," McClendon said.

State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said when commission chairman Allan B. Polunsky asked Abbott's office about authorizing checkpoints, she figured the target was drunken drivers.

''But when I saw the driver's license regulations, I said, 'Maybe they're not after Texas' drunk drivers, but maybe they're after undocumented people and this is a mechanism to get them," Van de Putte said.

She and 14 other Texas lawmakers sent Abbott a letter asking him to ignore the commission's legal opinion request because the Legislature has not authorized a DPS checkpoint program. It's unclear when Abbott will issue his opinion.

Polunsky did not return calls for comment.

Gov. Rick Perry favors the checkpoints, said spokeswoman Allison Castle. ''Police officers and law enforcement believe this is an important technique in protecting the public, and to that end, the governor supports providing our law enforcement officers with the tools they need to ensure public safety," Castle said.

DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said license requirements were tightened for security reasons, changes other states have made since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

''We are not enforcing the federal immigration laws," Mange said. "We are ensuring that applicants for Texas driver's licenses and ID cards have legal presence in the United States."

State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, called checkpoints a ''tremendous asset" that could cut down on drunken driving, car theft and motorists whose licenses have been revoked.

''For the people who want to erase our borders, for people who don't care if our laws are broken, and for people who are driving illegally, and for those who think that's fine, yes, this could be a problem," Riddle said.


Random traffic stops illegal
Checkpoints have not been allowed in Texas since the state Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in 1994 they must be authorized by a ''politically accountable governing body at the state level." That case involved a sobriety checkpoint in Arlington.

In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that random traffic stops to check driver's licenses, where officers did not have reasonable suspicion, were unconstitutional.

However, the ruling does not prevent state ''spot checks that involve less intrusion or that do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion," the justices wrote. ''Questioning of all oncoming traffic at roadblock-type stops is one possible alternative."

DPS Capt. Jerome Powell, who supervises driver's license offices in Houston, said the new regulations won't stop illegal immigrants from driving.

''They have to survive and go to work," Powell said.

No official tally exists of how many of Texas' estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrants have a driver's license.

DPS officials say nearly 3 million noncitizens are among the approximately 20 million Texas residents who carry state documents. They include 1.81 million noncitizens with licenses and another 1 million immigrants who have been issued state identity cards.

One indicator of the undocumented component of Texas license holders may be the nearly 380,000 applicants who filed DPS forms since June 2003 indicating they did not have a Social Security number.


Concerns about profiling
Activists worry that the new immigrant driver's licenses, along with checkpoints, are a recipe for profiling immigrants.

''Our number one concern is the potential for profiling since it puts the immigration identifier on the license," said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "It leads to potential profiling, whether it's a police officer who is going to scrutinize someone closer, or a landlord who may not want to rent out a property."

One person who could get caught in the checkpoints is Susanne Dennis, a 40-year-old legal immigrant from Germany.

In 2005, she came to the U.S. on a fiancé visa after falling for her now-husband, Michael Dennis, a 43-year-old security technician she met on the Internet. After they married in Maryland, Susanne was granted a provisional green card and obtained a Maryland driver's license.

Then Michael was transferred to Houston, and the coupled settled in Spring.

On Oct. 29, Susanne tried to apply for a Texas driver's license at DPS office in Humble, only to discover she didn't have acceptable proof of legal status.

Susanne had been granted a one-year extension so she could work in the U.S. while awaiting a permanent green card. But the form showing her extension was not on the list of accepted documents, so DPS turned her away.

Susanne, who works in Montrose, now drives into the city each morning fearful of being stopped by police. She feels lucky to still have a valid Maryland license and car insurance through her husband.

She's upset that she can't comply with Texas law requiring a driver's license within 30 days of moving to the state.

''What if a state trooper pulls me over?" Susanne said. ''What do I show him?"

james.pinkerton@chron.com
susan.carroll@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6107662.html

Susanne's husband needs to driver her to work. She's not going to get arrested but will be ticketed for driving without a license.

You have to stop making loopholes for special circumstances because that's how the illegal aliens get around the system.

Dixie

"Some lawmakers say stops would unfairly target illegal immigrants"

Yeah, well what in this world is fair?

I sure have seen my fair share of unfairness. My share, and his share, and her share, and their share. The worst unfairness is the unfairness that the American people have to endure from corporatist thieves in government, illegal aliens crying foul, like they think they have the right to, to begin with. And the unfair sufferring from the criminals domestic, and imported. The latter I firmly believe is ruse for those who want to grab more power in Washington. Disarm the people and make them believe they need stronger government instead of the limited government as laid down by the Constitution.

Folks, the redcoats aren't coming this time. They're already here. Now how do We the People unseat them this time?

Another benefit of not securing our National Borders, United States Citizens will have to be stopped at the check points along with all of the ILLEGALS! Secure Our National Borders.

Here is something else that will make you mad. James Pinkerton puts the following headling in the Chronicle:

Critics: Texas DPS wants checkpoints to target immigrants

The DPS is not targeting immigrants. Pinkerton does not seem to unsertand the difference between immigrants and illegal immigrants.

She's upset that she can't comply with Texas law requiring a driver's license within 30 days of moving to the state.

''What if a state trooper pulls me over?" Susanne said. ''What do I show him?"

Show him your Maryland drivers license and pray! You know what your doing is wrong, so why are you asking! If you get pulled over, then you will have to live with the consequences of your decision to break the law, which by the way, could impact the final decision on your green card!

What your doing is not very smart! I would make other arrangements and fast!

What's the problem? You have to have a driver's permit to drive in Mexico. What's being unfair about American law?

Mexico is under Napoleonic Law - meaning that you are guilty until proven innocent.

To drive more than 20 kilometers into Mexico:

You must have your state issued Driver's License(out of Mexico).
Mexico issued insurance.
You need proof of citizenship, such as a passport.
The appropiate immigration form (tourist card).
You pay a permit with a bond between 200-400 dollars secured with an International credit card, with the driver's name on it.
Yalid vehicle registration certificate, with driver's name on it.
In customs, stop by and pick up your permit to drive in Mexico and you can pay for it in advance for $35.
http://www.mexonline.com/drivemex.htm

If you screw up, they will seize your vehicle.

If you are caught illegaly in Mexico, you will be deported.

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

What's the problem? You have to have a driver's permit to drive in Mexico. What's being unfair about American law?

Exactly!

The biggest problem here is that these illegal immigrant advocates know well that illegals don't bother getting a driver's license, don't bother getting their $250 automobiles inspection stickers and certainly can't afford current license plates, or insurance.

When so many of them don't understand they can't drive drunk like they do in Mexico they don't have to worry about what damage they do. Their car is easily replaceable or the ride METRO, the plates were stolen and they don't stick around to give any insurance information to the other cars they destroyed. What so bad about a law that might prevent some of this from happening?

''But when I saw the driver's license regulations, I said, 'Maybe they're not after Texas' drunk drivers, but maybe they're after undocumented people and this is a mechanism to get them," Van de Putte said.

Oh no! For God's sake they can't be going after IA's?? Sound the alarms!

Van de Putte's new portrait:

Web Posted: 11/18/2008 7:05 CST

Perry outraged that criminal immigrants aren't being deported

By Clay Robison - Austin Bureau

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry demanded Tuesday that the federal government take steps to help state and local officials ensure that unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes in Texas remain in custody until they are deported.

In a strongly worded letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, Perry said he was ``outraged'' to learn that many convicted immigrants in Texas jails were released after they completed their jail sentences instead of being deported.

``Texas has spent the last four years investing unprecedented amounts of state resources to secure our border with Mexico. To now learn that criminal aliens who have been jailed are being released back into our communities by federal authorities who have neglected to secure our border is infuriating and unconscionable,'' he said.

Spokeswoman Allison Castle said the governor was reacting, in part, to a series of stories in the Houston Chronicle, reporting how federal immigration officials have allowed scores of violent criminals to be freed despite the inmates' admission to jailers that they were in the United States illegally.

``We knew there was a problem, but we didn't know the scope and magnitude of it,'' Castle said. In his letter, Perry noted that some of the released immigrants were later charged with felonies, including capital murder, rape, robbery and child molestation.

Several, he said, were ``members of transnational gangs that work closely with the cartels in Mexico conducting criminal operations on both sides of the Texas/Mexico border.''

The governor asked Chertoff to ``immediately institute a policy that requires every criminal alien identified in a Texas jail to be detained after their sentence has been served and then immediately deported to their country of origin.''

Otherwise, he added, ``the federal government will be embracing a de facto 'catch and release' program that has already resulted in tragic consequences in our communities.''

Perry also asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share its criminal database with all Texas counties that have a jail with an electronic fingerprint booking capacity. At present, Castle said, the database is available only to Harris and Dallas counties.

On Monday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn called for an investigation into how immigration officials screen inmates in the Harris County jail.

The Chronicle examined arrest and immigration records for 3,500 inmates who told Harris County jailers that they were in the country illegally during a span of eight months beginning in June 2007.

In 177 cases reviewed by the newspaper, inmates who were released after admitting to being in the country illegally later were charged with additional crimes, including felonies.

The Chronicle also found at least 178 cases involving suspects who absconded, meaning their bails were revoked for missing court dates or allegedly committing more crimes.

ICE has criticized the stories for containing ``outdated information.'' A spokesman said the agency has made significant improvements, including giving Harris County jailers access to a database that automatically checks suspects' immigration history.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/34711819.html