Thread: April 9th Update in Maryland. 2-tiered licenses UPDATE!!!!!

THE MARYLAND UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS NOW AT 200,000 PEOPLE.

THERE ARE 300,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS RESIDING HERE THAT OUR GOVERNOR WANTS TO GIVE DRIVER'S LICENSE "AMNESTY" TO.

DON'T YA THINK WE SHOULD STRIP AWAY THOSE DRIVER'S LICENSES, SEND THOSE ILLEGALS PACKING, AND OPEN UP THOSE JOBS TO THE 200,000 LEGAL TAXPAYING CITIZENS LOOKING FOR WORK?

"How would I get to work? I drive all over the region," said Rey Juarez, 33, a Greenbelt resident who came from Guatemala eight years ago and works as a carpet installer.

Juarez's vehicle, a black 2007 Cadillac Escalade, had become a source of pride and status. "I could never have this in my own country," he said.

Must make some pretty good bucks installing carpet, eh Rey? An American saddled with paying rent/mortgage, multiple insurances (auto, health), utilities, food, clothing, taxes couldn't save enough to even afford a Cadillac, much less an SUV.

Here's the easy answer Rey, you don't belong here. You should not have a job to get to, ergo you won't be needing the car OR a license.

Originally Posted by miguelina

"How would I get to work? I drive all over the region," said Rey Juarez, 33, a Greenbelt resident who came from Guatemala eight years ago and works as a carpet installer.

Juarez's vehicle, a black 2007 Cadillac Escalade, had become a source of pride and status. "I could never have this in my own country," he said.

Must make some pretty good bucks installing carpet, eh Rey? An American saddled with paying rent/mortgage, multiple insurances (auto, health), utilities, food, clothing, taxes couldn't save enough to even afford a Cadillac, much less an SUV.

Here's the easy answer Rey, you don't belong here. You should not have a job to get to, ergo you won't be needing the car OR a license.

well,, when you don't pay taxes, when you get free health care at any ER and simply say "i'm illegal, i don't have money", and walk out without paying a dime, you have lots of extra money to spend.

i read that since maryland is now becoming a sanctuary state, and since so many illegals are flocking to us for our easy-access licenses, the average "legal" taxpaying household pays an extra $1,200 per year to make up for the difference that illegals don't pay.

$1,200 of MY money each year to pay for illegals. i'd surely love that in my pocket instead of supporting illegal aliens!

Maryland General Assembly 2009
Bills deal with driver's licenses for illegals
By ERIN CUNNINGHAM
April 5, 2009
erinc@herald-mail.com

ANNAPOLIS — Jeff Werner doesn’t hate immigration.

In fact, he’s “totally for immigration.â€

[quote]Shank, R-Washington, said under the bill creating a two-tiered system, an illegal immigrant would only have to show they have a pending citizenship application to be eligible for a driver’s license.

“It creates a two-tiered driver’s license that is susceptible to fraud and will allow people who are not legally present in the United States to have a driver’s license and everything that goes with a driver’s license,â€

HERE IS YET ANOTHER ARTICLE, PUBLISHED YESTERDAY, FROM NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.ORG.

WITH ALL OF THESE ARTICLES ABOUT THE FRAUD HAPPENING IN MARYLAND, YOU WOULD THINK OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD SAY NO WAY TO A TWO-TIERED LICENSE.

PLEASE READ HOW SCARY THIS IS GETTING IN MARYLAND!

Fraudsters Target Maryland For Driver's Licenses
by Jennifer Ludden

Ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, more and more states have been restricting driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. But in Hawaii, Washington, New Mexico and Maryland, immigrants can still get a license no matter their legal status.

And because Maryland is the only state east of the Rocky Mountains with this more lax law, it's become an enormous target for fraud.

For several years now, Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration has had to cope with a flood of dubious applicants.

"They would come in truckloads; there'd be pickup trucks that would have seven, eight, nine people in the back," says Sue Payne of Maryland Citizens First, which opposes licenses for illegal immigrants.

To document how bad the fraud is, Payne took to staking out MVA parking lots in the early morning hours, armed with her camera.

"They'd jump out of the pickup truck, the guy would come back, and we'd see the same truck coming all night long," Payne says. "And they were none of them tagged in Maryland. They were Virginia plates. We had New Jersey plates. We had Massachusetts plates, New York plates, Illinois plates, Missouri, Texas."

The long lines created havoc. So Maryland's motor vehicle administrator, John Kuo, started scheduling appointments with a special phone number for the high volume of foreign applicants.

"The first day that we actually rolled out the separate toll-free line for out-of-country appointment system, the telephone company actually contacted us and said, 'Something's not right here, because you're getting about over a million hits on your toll-free system,' " Kuo says.

The calls were coming from across the country. So the MVA restricted the number. Now, when people outside Maryland try to call for an appointment, they get a recording that says: "We're sorry. You have dialed a number which cannot be reached from your calling area."

Businesses Charge Hundreds For Help With Licenses

But the more sophisticated Maryland's anti-fraud effort has become, the more sophisticated its antagonists are.

The pages of local Spanish language newspapers are full of ads offering help in obtaining a Maryland driver's license. Kim Propeack, of CASA of Maryland, says a host of companies have cropped up, and they charge hundreds of dollars, depending on the service

"You can hire a company to get you an appointment; you can hire a company to help you translate; you can hire a company to do a bunch of these types of activities," Propeack says. "We believe that these companies have been real vectors of fraud."

Propeack supports licenses for Maryland's undocumented immigrants. But she suspects these license assistance companies are helping out-of-state applicants set up fake residencies.

In fact, state officials have found dozens of applicants using the same address. Propeack wants the state to go after these businesses.

But Kuo, the MVA administrator, says his agency has its hands full investigating hundreds of individual applicants a year.

"It's a very serious resource issue for us," Kuo says. "We only have a small unit that's dedicated to investigating fraud issues — it's only a unit of basically five individuals. And they are overloaded with fraud cases to investigate right now."

States Don't Recognize Maryland Licenses

For the third year in a row, Maryland Republican Delegate Ron George has introduced legislation to deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and lawmakers are considering a ban again.

George says it's even more vital now. Other states are beginning to comply with a federal law called Real ID that mandates stricter requirements for driver's licenses. That means Marylanders find their licenses weakened.

"Maryland driver's licenses currently are not recognized in states such as Arizona, Colorado, South Carolina, Oklahoma, because they know that we do not seek lawful presence," George says.

If Maryland does pass a ban, it wouldn't take effect for a few months. And that could cause an even bigger rush as immigrants across the region seek a driver's license before the cutoff.

But Kuo isn't worried. He says the state's overloaded appointment system is booked solid for months. Last-minute scammers would likely be out of luck.

Editorials

Maryland's License Dilemma
A limited ID for illegal immigrants is the least-bad choice.


washingtonpost.com readers have posted 130 comments about this item.
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009; Page A22

WE'VE SAID before that it makes little sense to deprive illegal immigrants of drivers licenses: It only will encourage more people to drive without proper training or insurance, endangering everyone. At the same time, as other states have tightened their laws, Maryland reportedly has become a magnet for illegal immigrants seeking licenses. This is unacceptable, too, given the possibilities of fraud and abuse. The Maryland General Assembly is wrestling with this dilemma.

To comply with a federal law known as Real ID, which requires stricter identification for boarding a plane or entering a federal building, Maryland has to change its law. The state Senate passed a bill that would prevent all undocumented immigrants from obtaining licenses; the House passed a bill that would do the same but would allow immigrants who already have licenses to keep them and, when those licenses expire, replace them with a second-tier document that would allow driving but not qualify as federal ID. The House bill, which has Gov. Martin J. O'Malley's (D) support, is preferable.
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Thousands of Maryland immigrants need their driver's licenses to commute to work, shuttle their children to school and buy groceries for their families. Some Marylanders may respond: Well, then, let them go back where they came from. But most of the more than 250,000 immigrants in the state illegally aren't likely to go away anytime soon. Take away their licenses and they're likely to continue driving, only illegally. Unlicensed drivers are responsible for a disproportionate number of accidents and fatalities. That's one reason that many law enforcement groups support the House bill.

Both bills would close the loophole that has turned Maryland into a magnet for identification fraud. As The Post's Lisa Rein and N.C. Aizenman reported, Maryland is the only state east of the Mississippi that doesn't check the immigration status of applicants for driver's licenses. A utility bill or bank statement is enough to prove residency. The legislation would tighten those requirements and curtail the ID cons.

Some conservative lawmakers assert that the House bill provides what amounts to amnesty for illegal immigrants. But the limited ID would not allow its holders to board planes or enjoy any benefits of citizenship or permanent residency; we think the state should make it available not just to current license holders.

This is another instance in which federal failure to fix immigration laws leaves state and local governments without good solutions. The House has come up with a less-bad alternative than the Senate's.

Do you have a different view of this issue? Debate a member of the editorial board today in the Editorial Judgment discussion group.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03065.html

NOW ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE RAPING CHILDREN IN MARYLAND!!!

WOW! AND WE STILL WANT TO GIVE THEM SPECIAL LICENSES!!!!????

Man guilty of raping 11-year-old
30-year-old 'boyfriend' faces prison time, deportation
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer
Published 04/07/09

The 11-year-old girl thought she had a boyfriend.

That boy, however, was 30 years old and interested only in sex.

Danilo Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador living in Annapolis, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree rape as part of a plea agreement with the state. He was ordered to serve 18 months in a county jail, after which federal immigration officials plan to deport him.

"I accept that I am guilty," Ramirez told the court through a translator before apologizing to his victim's family. "I am sorry."

Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Alban said Ramirez had sex with the girl twice in late October and early November. She said Ramirez would knock on the door of the girl's Annapolis home late at night while her father was asleep, the girl would let him in, and the two would have sex in the living room.

"She believed she was in a relationship," Alban said, explaining Ramirez did not physically force himself on the girl.

The relationship ended after someone told the girl's father what was happening. The father - who has four other daughters - called city police, who in turn investigated and arrested Ramirez on Nov. 28.

Alban said the girl knew Ramirez was 30 and that Ramirez knew the girl was 11. She added the girl was both mentally and physically scarred by what happened.

"She's actually having ramifications from this relationship," she said.

The father told the court his daughter spent eight days in the hospital and he was so upset by what happened he lost feeling in his face for two months.

"My entire family has been affected by what this man has done," the Annapolis man wrote in a letter that was in turn translated by city police. He went on to ask the court for a lengthy sentence.

"This man should not be released from jail or stay in this country so he can do this to another family," he wrote.

Assistant Public Defender Ginina Stevenson, Ramirez's attorney, said her client has a son in El Salvador. She said he came to Maryland so he could better financially support his son.

Circuit Court Judge Paul A. Hackner sentenced Ramirez to 20 years in prison, but suspended all but 18 months to be served at a county jail. Upon Ramirez's release, Hackner expected him to be deported.

If Ramirez returns to the United States illegally, he could face another 18 years in prison, Hackner said.

"He knows he cannot come back here," Stevenson said.

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/t ... r-old.html

Thousands of Maryland immigrants need their driver's licenses to commute to work, shuttle their children to school and buy groceries for their families. Some Marylanders may respond: Well, then, let them go back where they came from. But most of the more than 250,000 immigrants in the state illegally aren't likely to go away anytime soon. Take away their licenses and they're likely to continue driving, only illegally. Unlicensed drivers are responsible for a disproportionate number of accidents and fatalities. That's one reason that many law enforcement groups support the House bill.

Now that employers will be facing a closer look from ICE, illegal aliens won't need a license to drive to jobs they don't have and can't get. A piece of paper will not miraculously improve their driving or compel them to get insurance or obey the laws. They've broken so many laws already, they don't care. I say NO license without proof of LEGAL residency!

Originally Posted by uniteasone

Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez said Monday evening in Spanish that she's ready to fight "to the death" to protect access to licenses during an Annapolis rally that attracted hundreds of immigrants

This is interesting! I do not see how this woman got into office,unless there are illegal voters there also.

yep there are illegal voters in md.. the corruption sucks in this state.. damn they wouldn't let my felon ex vote..