Thread: MD: Bill May Change Requirements To Get Md. License

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_043203101.html
Feb 12, 2007 11:27 pm US/Eastern

Bill May Change Requirements To Get Md. License

Dennis Edwards
Reporting

(WJZ) BALTIMORE Two lawmakers want to do something about illegal aliens getting licenses as soon as possible. Others believe it's a good idea that should be done the right way.

A truck driver in this country illegally was arraigned outside Pittsburgh on vehicular manslaughter charges after the traffic death of a Honduran diplomat. In December, a small boy in a baby carriage near Towson was hit and dragged to death by a SUV driven by a woman who is an illegal alien. Both suspects had Maryland driver's licenses.

State senator Janet Greenip is one of two lawmakers sponsoring bills that would make it illegal to issue a Maryland driver's license to people who can't prove they're in this country legally.

Lawmakers who oppose Greenip's bill agree with what she's trying to do as long as it's done the right way.

Delegate Heller says bills are based on the Federal Real ID Act. It would force Maryland to require residents to provide birth and other written proof of residency that could over time become impossible to produce.

Senator Greenip says she knows there are details that need to be worked out. She just wants the process to start soon, but Delegate Heller believes the legislation is based on a bad federal law that should be revised.


(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

The police are as useless as the illegals sometimes. There is an intersection near my home where an accident is inevitable. There is a lane to go straight and a lane to turn right. I have noticed this one vehicle (a large SUV) who repeatedly goes straight in the right hand turn lane and then swerves in front of other cars to get into the straight lane. I have confronted this (Mexican) lady myself (I followed her to her work) and asked her not to do that, because someone is going to get killed. She was acting like she either did not understand or that she could not care(?) I am frustrated and mad because I have see her (and many others) do this more than once. I called the police and they are unwilling to put a cop at that intersection. I don't get it!!!

anyone wonder why MD elections go the way they go. Illegals vote once they get licenses. When they move they get to vote in your state and drive there. As a legal American you vote means less and less. Illegals are not required to have insurance and you wonder why your insurance keeps getting more and more expensive.

Access to licenses by illegals tackled
By Tom LoBianco
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 9, 2007


ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland lawmakers yesterday continued efforts to prevent illegal aliens from obtaining state driver's licenses.
"The driver's license is the basic identification document for nearly everyone in America," said Sen. Janet Greenip, Anne Arundel Republican and lead sponsor of the proposal to bring Maryland into compliance with the federal Real ID Act. "When we open a bank account, when we enter a building, we use our driver's license to prove our identity."
Mrs. Greenip's proposal would require driver's license applicants to present proof of "legal presence" or that they live legally in the United States.
Maryland is one of seven states that does not require applicants to show "legal presence" to obtain a license.
Bill supporters told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee they were concerned about public safety and potential terrorist attacks because one of the September 11 hijackers obtained a Maryland driver's license.
"I live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which has been in [newspapers] quite recently, and is really on its way to becoming the first authentic barrio in the county," said Susan Payne of Citizens Above Party. "The poison that's coming out of this state, known as the Maryland driver's license, has to be stopped because it's infecting the entire country."
Opponents of the proposal said it is impractical to expect the estimated 250,000 illegal aliens in the state to not drive to their jobs.
"Although most [illegal aliens] have been drawn to fill essential jobs, ... the system provides no mechanism for them to regularize their immigration status," said CASA of Maryland spokeswoman Kim Propeack in prepared testimony.
But the administrator of the state's Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) said a "legal presence" requirement would have made it harder for one of the September 11 hijackers to obtain a state driver's license.
"It would definitely make it a lot more difficult," said John T. Kuo, MVA administrator.
Federal lawmakers passed the Real ID Act in 2005, establishing essentially a national identification card through state driver's licenses.
Maryland has until May 2008 to comply with the act but may apply for a waiver that would last until December 2009.
Barring illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses became an even bigger issue for many state lawmakers after an Iraq war veteran was killed in a car accident involving an illegal alien in Howard County on Thanksgiving.
Police arrested Eduardo Raul Morales-Soriano, 25, an illegal alien from Mexico, and charged him with drunken driving and two counts each of vehicular homicide and manslaughter while intoxicated in the crash that killed Cpl. Brian Mathews of Columbia, Md.
The MVA is awaiting Real ID Act guidelines from the federal Department of Homeland Security. But the agency must wait on action from the legislature and the governor before it requires proof of residency, said Buel Young, an MVA spokesman.
If Maryland does not comply with the act, state driver's licenses would no longer be accepted identification for entrance into federal buildings or travel on airplanes.

http://washingtontimes.com/metro/200703 ... -6423r.htm

Still talking...
~~~~

Mar 14, 2007 9:38 pm US/Eastern

State Leaders Discuss Maryland License Rules

Derek Valcourt
Reporting

(WJZ) ANNAPOLIS, Md. A controversial topic sparked heated debate in Annapolis Wednesday.

At issue was whether more should be done to prevent illegal aliens from getting Maryland drivers' licenses.

As Derek Valcourt reports supporters on both sides of the issue say they have the interests of Marylanders at heart.

Maryland is currently one of seven states that does not require people to prove they are in the country legally in order to get a license.

Motor Vehicle Administration officials also told WJZ's Valcourt that more and more people are trying to fool the MVA.

"Since 2004 we have noted an increase in fraudulent activity," said MVA Administrator John Kuo. "These are individuals who have presented documents that are falsified and/or simply just newly created off of a printer somewhere. We have seen a 255 percent increase in these instances coming across our counters."

It was a Maryland license that plane hijacker Hani Hanjour used to board American Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Some Maryland legislators have pointed to the 9/11 breach, trying to link it to the importance of forcing people to prove they are in the country legally before getting a Maryland license.

Supporters say it will help improve national security but opponents say it could endanger drivers on the road and create widespread job loss.

"That whole argument is something that I don't buy because I think that having people drive around without driver's licenses is a danger to everybody," said Demos Chrissos from the Maryland Citizens' Alliance.

Regardless of public debate the federal government may ultimately have the final say.

The "Real ID Act" was recently passed and calls for all states, by May of 2008, to make sure someone is legally in the country before giving them a driver's license.

http://wjz.com/local/local_story_073214724.html

Supporters say it will help improve national security but opponents say it could endanger drivers on the road and create widespread job loss.

Did I miss something? Since when did our federal government pass a bill authorizing criminal aliens to legally work in the United States. A driver's license is not required to purchase a bus ticket to the border!

How can "widespread job loss" be considered a legitimate argument?

Maryland is currently one of seven states that does not require people to prove they are in the country legally in order to get a license.

Thats why they all come here to get licenses. The lines start early in the morning and sometimes they wrap all the way around the building.
And excuse me for profiling, but most of them don't speak much english, and they look like they just got off the turnip truck.