Re: Illegal Aliens and Driver Licenses

Friday, April 04, 2003

The Editor:

A bill that would allow illegal aliens to get driver's licenses is advancing in the Georgia Legislature. Georgia Republicans are joining the Democrats in selling out their fellow citizens, including my children in Georgia and my precious granddaughter, who will be born in Cobb County in June.

According to the polls, the majority of Americans want enforcement of our immigration laws, not rewarding of illegal aliens. Illegal aliens should not be given any American documents, period.

Tennessee is moving to SECURE the driver's licensing process by repealing Tennessee's 2001 law allowing illegal aliens to get driver's licenses, a law most Tennesseans realize was a serious mistake. The MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) lobbyists who moved into Tennessee and duped some Tennessee legislators are now in Georgia trying the same tactics.

The majority of Georgians oppose any driving privileges, state ID cards, or other benefits for people who are in our country illegally. Requirements for such privileges should include a Social Security number and a U.S. birth certificate or INS authorization for the applicant to be in the United States.

The Democrats, and many Republicans as well, have been playing into the hands of radical, open-borders groups that have selfish interests, not the best interests of the United States, at heart. American documents are important to this subversive agenda, which seeks access to everything in our country, including the ballot. Keep in mind the ease of the far-from-fraudproof "motor voter" registration that should be repealed by our federal government.

The governor and the legislature should also prohibit public agencies and private officials from accepting Mexican, and any, consular IDs. These IDs, which contain no checkable information, are issued by foreign consulates to illegal aliens in the United States. Newspapers have reported that a number of illegal aliens arrested by police were carrying multiple consular IDs issued in different names to the same person.

The Mexican government began pushing these IDs after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which stalled Mexico's push for amnesty for its illegal aliens. The consular ID maneuver undermines U.S. laws and is an effort toward a stealth amnesty. Other countries are now issuing their own consular IDs.

Public entities and private officials should not accept foreign identification documents not issued by a state or federal jurisdiction and that are unverifiable by federal law enforcement, intelligence, or Homeland Security agencies.

Details on these issues can be accessed via the Tennessee group's Web site at Tennesseans for Immigration Reform.

Donna Locke
Chairman, Tennesseans for Immigration Reform
Former Chairman, Georgia Coalition for Immigration Reform
Columbia, TN