QandO

August 23, 2004

Departamento de los Vehículos de Motor
Posted by Dale Franks

California Democrats are insisting that not only should illegal immigrants be given driver's licenses, they should look exactly the same as regular licenses.

Gov. Schwarzenegger begs to differ, so Democrats in Sacramento are not hot as blazes, particularly state Sen. Gil Cedillo

A driver's license bill for illegal immigrants, perhaps the most emotional issue facing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as California's legislative session winds down, will likely land on his desk within days.

Schwarzenegger has indicated he'll veto it unless the license "looks different" from other licenses for security reasons - an amendment supporters of the bill call a discriminatory "marker" that's unacceptable.

With no apparent middle ground in view, the postmortem for SB 1160 by state Sen. Gil Cedillo is already taking shape. Latino legislators say Schwarzenegger promised them he would sign a license bill; the governor maintains the bill does not address his security concerns.

The Republican governor also maintains he never assured Cedillo - as the Los Angeles Democrat insists - that licenses for illegal immigrants would look the same as licenses for legal residents.

The basic argument that Democrats have been making is that illegals need licenses, because, right now, they're driving anyway, and they are a public danger. We must, says cedillo, get licenses out to the illegals so that we can be reasonably asssured of their ability to drive safely.

OK, fine, I'm willing to listen to that argument. But, when Cedillo starts shrieking that they absolutely, positively cannot have some sort of distinguishing mark, then he loses me completely. Because then it becomes obvious that this is about something else than safe driving.

There's a reason that Cedillo wants illegals to have the same license that citizens get, and the reason can be described in one phrase: Motor Voter.

In California, once you get a driver's license, you're automatically issued a voter registration card, right at the DMV. And, since no one ever actually checks to see if you're eligible to vote, Motor Voter would allow Democrats to swell the voter roles with illegal immigrants who aren't legally allowed to vote, but who generally won't get caught if they do, because of how Motor Voter was implemented in California. Putting a distiguishing mark, like a "Non-Resident" stamp on the license, would put an end to that.

No, this isn't about letting illegals drive. It's about political power in Sacramento, and how to keep it.

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