Cutler Testifies at NY Drivers License Hearing
By Mike Cutler

I will be in Albany, New York tomorrow (Monday, October 15th, 2007) morning to testify before a hearing called by the New York State Senate to address the proposal of Governor Spitzer to provide illegal aliens with driver’s licenses.

I have attached a copy of the notice of the hearing to this e-mail along with a copy of my prepared testimony.

I hope you find this to be of interest.

Michael Cutler-



Testimony of Michael W. Cutler

for the New York State Senate Hearing on Governor Spitzer’s Proposal to Provide Driver’s Licenses to Illegal Aliens

Let me start out by thanking New York State Senate Chairmen Vincent L. Leibell and Thomas W. Libous for their leadership in convening this hearing to hopefully avert the implementation of policy that would represent a serious threat to national security and an egregious violation of law and common sense.

Under any circumstances it would legally and morally wrong for state or local governments to ignore the federal laws of our nation, including the immigration laws. In this post 9/11 world it is unthinkable. We are indeed a nation of immigrants, but there is a world of difference between aliens who have been lawfully admitted into this nation and those who have decided to run our nation’s borders or in other ways violate the immigration laws of the United States. There are those who have the desire to blur the distinction between aliens who are lawfully admitted as immigrants and aliens who are illegally present in the United States. The use of the language becomes a tool of deception for those who are determined to eradicate our nation’s borders. So I will take this opportunity to make clear the language that makes an honest discussion difficult if not impossible. The term alien is not a pejorative; it is the legal term used in our Constitution and in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The term alien is simply defined as being any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States.

The difference between an illegal alien and an immigrant is the difference between a burglar and a houseguest.

Today our nation confronts an immigration crisis of unprecedented proportions that is inextricably linked to several major issues that impact our nation on all levels and in all states. Our nation’s ongoing failures to secure its borders and to create an immigration system that possesses meaningful integrity has enabled criminals and terrorists to gain access to our country and in the parlance of the 9/11 Commission, embed themselves in communities around our country. I refer to this as “hiding in plain sight.â€