Miller: "O'Malley Must Speak" On Licenses For Illegals
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
WBAL Radio as reported by Robert Lang, Steve Fermier and Associated Press



Senate President Mike Miller talks about the difference in the driver's license bills.


Senate President Mike Miller says Governor Martin O'Malley needs to provide direction to lawmakers over what he wants them to do about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

Miller's comments came less than 24 hours after the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates passed opposing bills on whether to give illegal immigrants access to driver's licenses.

Maryland senators voted 36-11 Monday night to deny state ID to illegal immigrants, but several hours earlier the House of Delegates voted 77-60 to approve a two-license system.

Miller told reporters today that he prefers the Senate bill, opposing a so called "two-tiered" license system.

Miller noted one of the 9-11 hijackers had a Maryland driver's license even though he was in this country illegally. He says lawmakers need to stop the practice of letting those here illegally have driver's licenses.

In the House of Delegates bill, illegal immigrants would not be able to get new Maryland ID after the law takes effect. Those who already have Maryland ID, however, could renew their licenses and receive cards that would look different from other licenses and couldn't be used to board planes or enter federal buildings.

Today, a spokesman for Governor O'Malley told WBAL News that the governor feels there are "legitimate arguments" for either bill, and if either one were to come out of a House and Senate conference committee he would sign it.

Spokesman Shaun Adamec says the governor feels that the House bill is "more practical," but he adds the governor would sign either bill.

Lawmakers in both chambers who backed access to licenses for illegal immigrants said tens of thousands of Maryland residents would be unable to drive children to school or themselves to work if the state cuts off licenses for all undocumented people. A recent Pew Hispanic Center study estimated there were more than 250,000 Maryland residents who were illegal immigrants.

"You want to call it amnesty, OK, let's call it amnesty," Prince George's County Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk said. "It means you have a heart, you take care of those 200-and-something-thousand people so they can continue to have a life and continue to get to their job."

Others argued that making licenses available to illegal immigrants isn't fair to people who have followed U.S. immigration guidelines.

"If you vote against this bill, you know what you're saying, you're saying the rules don't make any difference at all," Sen. James Brochin, D-Baltimore County, said. "It doesn't matter whether you play by the rules or not, you can sneak into the state of Maryland, you can go get your driver's license without documentation and that's fine."

Maryland is one of only four states in the U.S. - and the only one east of the Rockies - that issues driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Those seeking to change the system have argued that the state has become a magnet for fraud by illegal immigrants up and down the eastern seaboard.

State lawmakers are also scrambling to meet deadlines for the federal REAL ID law, which requires states to strengthen their identification documents.

Maryland has met some REAL ID benchmarks, but four remain unfulfilled because the state doesn't check applicants' residency status, according to Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration chief John Kuo. If Maryland does not show it is attempting to comply, residents could eventually be unable to use their licenses to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and Maryland transportation officials endorsed a proposal last month to stop giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but O'Malley has not publicly commented on the House compromise legislation. Sponsors of the House bill, however, say they were in communication with the governor's office while they worked out the details of the two-license system.

Both sides need to agree on legislation before a bill could go to O'Malley for his signature.

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