Thread: Illegals can nolong get Michigan Drivers License

Illegal immigrants can't get Michigan licenses, Cox says
December 27, 2007

BY DAVID EGGERT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LANSING — Illegal immigrants can no longer get a Michigan driver's license, Attorney General Mike Cox ruled today, reversing a practice that has come under increasing scrutiny post-Sept. 11.

Michigan has been 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.

It was not immediately known how soon the opinion may take effect or what it means for illegal immigrants with currently valid licenses.

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

His decision, requested by state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, could boost momentum for legislation pushed by GOP Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land creating a new driver's license and state ID card.

Only those who are Michigan residents and legally in the United States could get the new standard license under the plan.

Land's office was still wading through Cox's opinion and exploring its immediate implications, but it appears to "dovetail nicely" with her license initiative, spokesman Ken Silfven said. Land is attempting to 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.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan criticized Cox's opinion, in which he cited national security concerns.

"It drives them further underground," executive director Kary Moss said about illegal immigrants. "If they have licenses, then the state knows about them and has information about them. If there's no form of state recognition, it's essentially a much more invisible population."

The ACLU also has been critical of the Real ID law. It argues the measure will turn driver's licenses into national ID cards and make it easy for identity thieves and private businesses to collect personal data from the cards.

Cox's legal 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. But Cox said "there can be no doubt that a rational basis exists for denying driver's licenses to illegal aliens."

Jones, the lawmaker who asked for Cox's legal assessment, said illegal immigrants shouldn't be able to use licenses to find employment — "stealing jobs from Michigan citizens."

Whether illegal immigrants should get licenses has become a major political issue.

Earlier this year, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but he ended up withdrawing that plan after intense opposition.

The issue produced one of the most tense moments of the primary campaign so far, as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton stumbled in a debate, saying the Spitzer proposal "makes a lot of sense," yet "I did not say that it should be done." Clinton later came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 008/NEWS06

The ACLU are trying stick thier noses in so we need to back
Michgan Attorney General Cox on this.


[email:1ih9bpul]AGWebmaster@michigan.gov[/email:1ih9bpul]

[email:1ih9bpul]miag@michigan.gov[/email:1ih9bpul]

And they need to get rid of this Illegal loving B*tch.
She was inviting illegals to go and work the farms in Michigan.