Thread: Legislator proposes immigrant 'driving privilege' card

I think all of us should phone this guy Vas. Having illegals on the roads uninsured raises our insurance costs. the police should be arresting all drivers who have obtained their licences illegaly.

I have come across poorly driving illegals many times on the roads and my wife was hit by one in Minneapolis. we had to pay for that crash since the illegals were uninsured and drove away - escaped at high speed. talk about committing vehicular crimes. uninsured and undesirable on our roads

Lets stop the idiocy. Export the illegals and don't let them get away with driving, abusing our health systems, social suystems, free education for their illegal kids raising insurance, health, legal costs for us all and overall making this is much less a safer place to be...

We have our national list of volunteers calling this Rep. we may need to expand our calls to the entire NJ Legislature if this measure proceeds to take root. Everyone please keep an eye out.

W

http://www.newsday.com

Assemblyman wants driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants

By BONNIE PFISTER
Associated Press Writer

March 6, 2006

TRENTON, N.J. -- Despite the suspension of a similar initiative in Tennessee and a new national poll showing opposition, Assemblyman Joseph Vas on Monday unveiled his bill allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain New Jersey driver's licenses.

The Perth Amboy Democrat and other supporters of a "Driving Privilege Card" say illegal immigrants are a reality in the U.S. economy, and most need to travel by car to get to their jobs. Some may be driving already without passing local driving exams, so licensing them is a safety measure.

To oppose the measure while enjoying the low-cost services of undocumented immigrants who work in restaurants, orchards, construction and landscaping would be hypocrisy, Vas said at a press conference.

"A Driving Privilege Card is not the flashpoint for the immigration problem," Vas said. "It will provide a humane solution to a practical problem."

Recipients would have to pass tests in writing and behind the wheel, purchase auto insurance and renew the card annually. It would not be usable to enter federal buildings or to board airplanes.

The measure would skirt the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission's tough "six point" requirements implemented in 2003 to comply with the federal "Real ID" program. That program requires such state agencies to verify legal residency of driver's license applicants by 2008.

Currently 10 U.S. states do not require such proof. Utah has measure similar to the one Vas has proposed, as did Tennessee until two weeks ago. Officials there have suspended offering such cards to people without proof of legal residence after finding many applicants had come from out of state with fake documents.

Vas's efforts won't go unchallenged. Last week a Quinnipiac University poll of 1,900 U.S. voters showed 72 percent oppose such a measure.

And in the Legislature, Assemblyman Christopher Connors, R-Lacey Township, has introduced a bill to prohibit the state from granting any license, contract, loan or tax abatement to individuals who cannot prove they are legal residents.

Connors said the experience of Tennessee should give pause to legislators in New Jersey, which already has estimated 350,000 undocumented immigrants.

"We'd be ringing the bell, saying come to New Jersey: We'll give you driver's licenses," Connors said Monday. "It's going to be come one, come all."

Supporters say the driving card would also be useful to some New Jerseyans who are here legally. That includes elderly citizens who have run afoul of motor vehicle rules because they've lost their birth certificates or never owned passports, as well as the spouses of temporary legal immigrants here on H1-B high-tech work visas who do not have Social Security numbers.

"The spouses who don't have the six-point ID become unproductive members of society," said Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, D-Somerset. "They cannot go to the library, they cannot go shopping. They depend on their spouses."

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On the Net:

NJ Legislature: www.njleg.state.nj.us

NJ Motor Vehicle Commission: www.state.nj.us/mvc
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

Living in N.J. I find this abominal. Its bad enough being a 3rd generation American I'm now the minority in my area. But this takes the cake!

Why bother to call these people illegals? We give them everything and more them some legal Americans. They don't get deported, They don't get arrested.

Last I heard illegal meant NOT LEGAL........But lets give them privleges anyway!!!!

I written my congress and legislator but its just a shot in the dark.