Thread: Solve One Problem, Create Another- From Officer.com

http://www.officer.com/interactive/2007/03/04/solve/
Solve One Problem, Create Another
Leave a comment on this post below E-mail this Post to a Friend Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

Having relocated to a different state, I had to make a pilgrimage to the driver’s license bureau last week. While I was there, it occurred to me that this is one of the last great equalizers of our society. No matter how much money you have or how important you think you are, you’ve got to check in here sooner or later and stand or sit with rabble like me.

The Department of Licensing (DOL) here does a pretty good job at making this process as painless as possible, using a take-a-number system that avoids having to wait in line. So, the annoyance I felt while I was there didn’t have a lot to do with the process. It had more to do with the degree to which we cater to people who can’t be bothered to learn the local language.

Yes, I’m talking about Spanish-speakers. The community I live in is about 19% Hispanic, but a city just across the river from us, and which is served by the same DOL office, is 56% Hispanic. Either way, there are a lot of Hispanic (or Chicano, or Latino, or Latino-American, whichever is the politically correct term these days) people here. And my unscientific observations indicate to me that a bunch of them don’t speak English.

I know the arguments in favor of encouraging Hispanics, those in the country lawfully and otherwise, to get driver’s licenses. If they get the licenses, they are more likely to also have their cars registered and insured, and the bad drivers can be more easily tracked through the court and licensing system. Licensing requires that they learn something about the traffic laws, so they’ll be better drivers. I can entertain the idea that this actually works, but I don’t think it does, though. My friends who are still working the streets tell me that hit-and-run accidents involving Hispanics are very common. A good number don’t have driver’s licenses, and of the ones that do, many are suspended for getting too many tickets or not going to court. Their vehicles are often uninsured. If they get into an accident, they take off on foot, leaving the car behind. The loss of the car is an inconvenience compared to the chance of being deported if their immigration status is discovered.

Is this a problem limited to the Hispanic community? Certainly not. Bad driving and lack of personal responsibility are traits that cross ethnic and economic demographics. But in this case, we are talking about a group that frequently uses their lack of language skills as a method of evading the law.

I have encountered hundreds of Hispanic drivers who smiled at me and said “No hablo” when I asked them for their license, registration, and proof of insurance. Since my Spanish is limited to more or less to what I learned in high school (“¿Dondé está la biblioteca?” Why are high school Spanish teachers so obsessed with being able to find a Mexican library? It’s not there’s going to be much for me to read there), I wasn’t able to conduct much of a roadside interview. I strongly suspect that most of these people spoke English much better than they pretended to. After all, it was in their best interest to feign ignorance. If I couldn’t ask them questions in Spanish, they wouldn’t have to answer, and I wouldn’t be able to understand most of the answers, anyway.

Had I written them the ticket, they could have pleaded that they didn’t understand what they were supposed to do. This ploy actually worked - a lot. Sometimes I would get fired up and try harder to communicate, or find a translator, but more often than not it was just easier and less aggravating to cut them loose with minimum, if any, enforcement action.

The DOL has an automated system that calls out the number next to be served. Like a lot of automated voice systems these days, it does so in English and Spanish. In this office, the Spanish version comes first. This just rubs it in for me. When I go to Home Depot, all of the placards telling me what aisle holds what merchandise are in both English and Spanish. The English words are in larger print. For now.

Traffic signs in the United States are in English, as are traffic statutes, owner’s manuals, insurance documents, court hearings, and for the most part, traffic cops. Why do we facilitate the licensing of drivers who cannot demonstrate an ability to read, write, speak or understand English? Why is it so unreasonable to require this of someone who is going to operate a motor vehicle in this country?

Of course, a bigger issue lies with the granting of what is the most commonly carried and accepted identification document in this country, when the granting agency has very little reliable evidence of the applicant’s identity. The most common document offered by foreign-born Hispanics as proof of identity is the infamous Matricula Consular, a piece of paper issued by the Mexican government with a reliability factor roughly equivalent to a note from the applicant’s mother. According to a “Myths and Facts” document on the U.S. House of Representatives’ web site, the FBI has concluded that Matricula Consular documents are used almost exclusively by illegal aliens. This is common knowledge in the private sector, which largely refuses to recognize the document for any transaction where the business is at a risk for loss. This information has gone unnoticed by the driver’s license office. Of course, there are no questions regarding the applicant’s immigration or citizenship status, as asking such a thing would be a violation of their civil rights.

My friend and Officer.com contributor John Wills has written persuasively (The Dirty Little Secret) on the notion that illegal immigrants are just honest folks looking for a better life. No doubt that some of them, maybe even most of them, are just that, but the numbers indicate that their personnel screening needs some work. Still, we make it very easy for these people to get the same default ID card that I and most of you reading this carry for our day-to-day affairs.

Before someone accuses me of being a bigot (and I am certain that or some similar label will appear in the comments), I’ll offer that I’m not. I grew up in a city where a third to a half of my classmates in school had Spanish surnames. Many were foreign born. I didn’t notice that they were any better or worse as people than anyone else I knew. They did all speak English, although their parents frequently didn’t.

I’ll also offer than I’m not anti-immigrant. Had my Irish ancestors not gotten on the boat, I suppose I wouldn’t have been fortunate enough to be born in the greatest country that civilization has ever seen. And my reading of history indicates that the Irish weren’t especially welcomed when they landed. However, they entered the country lawfully, and they all spoke English, even if they sounded funny. By the way, I’m not an Irish-American. I’m just an American, and I think we would all be a lot better off if people quit putting our differences ahead of our commonalities.

This business of giving driver’s licenses to people that can’t comply fully with the traffic law and its enforcers, can’t produce any reliable evidence of who they are and where they came from, and who are frequently already violating immigration laws is political correctness over safety and security. Forget the notion of hiring more cops that are bilingual. We can’t get enough cops that speak only English.

The REAL ID issue I wrote about a few weeks ago stands to put a crimp in this practice, and this is one of several reasons that some states are opposing it. Many people object to the REAL ID program on privacy grounds, and that’s already been another column. But if it will help get the signs at Home Depot back to English only, I’m for it.

And my unscientific observations indicate to me that a bunch of them don’t speak English.

NOW PLAYING AT A DMV NEAR YOU!

I want my money back from this crappy movie!

The REAL ID issue I wrote about a few weeks ago stands to put a crimp in this practice, and this is one of several reasons that some states are opposing it. Many people object to the REAL ID program on privacy grounds, and that’s already been another column. But if it will help get the signs at Home Depot back to English only, I’m for it

There's a better solution than implimenting this stupid act. ITS CALLED ENFORCING THE EXISTING LAWS.

They should set up check posts at each state border and check passports. Also, random searches of people who look foreign and depor tthem if they don;t have a USpassort

Originally Posted by AmrikiDesi

They should set up check posts at each state border and check passports. Also, random searches of people who look foreign and depor tthem if they don;t have a USpassort

We don't live in the Soviet Union or Cuba!

I resent having to have ANY papers checked due to ILLEGAL ALIENS, INSANE ISLAMIC MANIACS & a CORRUPT CONGRESS!!!

I'm an AMerican and I live in the very last vestige of FREEDOM on this planet. If we're not careful, it will not remain so.

The English words are in larger print. For now.