Thread: MI: Migrant advocates blast Cox ruling

Migrant advocates blast Cox ruling
Posted by Federico Martinez | The Muskegon Chronicle December 29, 2007 23:37PM

Migrant advocates are calling Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox's ruling to deny illegal immigrants a Michigan driver's license an ill-conceived move that in the long run will cause more problems than it solves.

"You have to love the timing," said Martha Gonzalez-Cortes, director of the Michigan Department of Human Services Office of Migrant Affairs, who noted the announcement was made during the holidays. "But people aren't just going to get up and leave the state and country. They're still going to keep on driving."

Cox's Thursday ruling reverses a practice that has come under increasing scrutiny since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Michigan was one of eight states to allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses. Attorney general opinions are legally binding on state agencies and officers unless reversed by the courts.

At least three states have outlawed the practice in recent years as a way to crack down on illegal immigrants and keep licenses out of the hands of would-be terrorists.

"Cox's ruling is right-on," said state Rep. Dave Agema, R-Rockford, who introduced a bill last summer to prohibit illegal immigrants from obtaining licenses. His bill has not received a hearing in the Democratic-controlled House.

"We have to make our driver's licenses secure. Currently, they are not," Agema said, adding the proof of residency required to get a license easily can be forged.

"This should have been done the year after 9/11, not now," he said.

Agema also wondered if illegal immigrants have used licenses to register to vote. Only U.S. citizens have the right to vote in federal, state and local elections.

"Nobody checks for fraud. It's kinda scary," he said.

The opinion is effective immediately, but it is not known when it will be enforced or what it means for illegal immigrants with currently valid licenses.

State agricultural officials estimate up to 80,000 migrant farm workers come to Michigan each year to pick crops and work in canning factories. Thousands of those workers are believed to be living and working illegally in the U.S.

Some farm worker advocates believe Cox's ruling could have dire consequences and cost Michigan farmers millions of dollars because their crops won't be picked.

"I think it's going to be really bad," said Juanita Estrada, chairwoman of the West Michigan Migrant Resource Council based in Oceana County. "They've tried this in other states, like Georgia, and the farmers couldn't find anyone to pick their crops."

Gonzalez-Cortes said Secretary of State offices in Michigan have not trained employees on how to evaluate complicated immigration documents. There are more than two dozen different kinds of green cards, including those for refugees, who don't yet have a Social Security number and whose legal status is often in limbo for several years.

"You're asking an agency to assume responsibility over very complicated laws with no training," said Gonzales-Cortes. "It's going to be a nightmare."

A spokesman for Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land this week said Cox's ruling will help Land's office better comply with the federal Real ID Act, a law to make driver's licenses more secure and keep them out of the hands of would-be terrorists.

"How is that going to help?" Estrada asked. "At least with a driver's license you know who these people are. Now you'll have all these people out there with no ID."

Estrada and Gonzalez-Cortes said more efforts have been made by U.S. politicians to harass illegal immigrants than American employers who break the law by helping them cross the border, employing them and oftentimes discriminating against them.

Cox's ruling will likely encourage more people to take advantage of immigrants by trying to sell them fake licenses and other documents, Estrada and Gonzalez-Cortes said.

Michigan law prohibits the Secretary of State from issuing a driver's license to a nonresident. Cox, a Republican, said this week that it would be inconsistent with federal law to regard an illegal immigrant as a permanent resident in Michigan.

His ruling was requested by state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, and could boost momentum for legislation pushed by Land to create a new driver's license and state ID card.

Only those who are state residents and legally in the U.S. could get the new standard license.

Cox's opinion overrules a 1995 opinion by former Democratic Attorney General Frank Kelley. Kelley suggested that denying a driver's license to an illegal immigrant might violate the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause, according to Cox.

http://blog.mlive.com

If they continue to drive then it will make it that much easier to arrest them when they are stopped. Then they can be deported. I think alot of them are like putting their heads in the sand. They think somehow they won't get caught. But, guess what????????????????????? Sooner or later.

"How is that going to help?" Estrada asked. "At least with a driver's license you know who these people are. Now you'll have all these people out there with no ID."

This statement is laughable, she expects us to believe they will give their real names to get a license? Not bloody likely!

Without a license, we will know they are here illegally, THAT'S how it helps.

Drive without a license, go to jail, get deported... It's all good.

Dixie

Published January 2, 2008



Licenses: Attorney general made right call on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants
A Lansing State Journal editorial


Attorney General Mike Cox made the right decision last week when he issued an opinion saying that illegal immigrants should not be eligible to receive a Michigan driver's license.

Until his ruling, Michigan was one of a handful of states that had a process for granting driver's licenses to people who lacked documentation to prove their legal status, such as Social Security numbers.

The Secretary of State's Office had been doing so under an existing 1995 opinion, from former Attorney General Frank Kelley, permitting the licenses.

No one should turn this issue into one of race or ethnicity.

While some have lamented that restrictions on driver's licenses will unfairly single out people of Hispanic descent for extra scrutiny, the fact is that in Michigan a foreign-born person without proper permission to be in the country might just as easily be a Canadian and Caucasian.

There is much unresolved at the federal level about the nation's immigration problem.

To begin with, there are enormous backlogs in handling paperwork from individuals who are trying to enter the country legally. Then there is the matter of what to do about the estimated 12 million individuals who are living and working inside the United States without the legal right to be here.

Those issues can't be fixed at the state or local level.

But state government should not add to the problem by providing driver's licenses that are generally accepted as legal identification to people who are not living here legally.

Doing so adds to the problem and penalizes those residents and immigrants who are here legally.

Because immigration has become a political hot-potato in a presidential election year, sadly, voters and taxpayers can expect little constructive discussion any time soon.

Cox's ruling makes sense. Now one can only hope that winners at the presidential and congressional elections in November will exercise both the good judgment and courage needed to address the bigger issues going forward.


http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... /801020323

SOUND THE ALARM. MICHIGAN IS GOING TO IMPLODE BECAUSE ILLEGALS WON'T BE ABLE TO DRIVE. MAKES ME WONDER HOW THE OTHER STATES WHO DON'T ISSUE DL's TO ILLEGALS HAVE SURVIVED?????

They won't continue to drive if their vehicles are impounded -