Sorry, I couldn't resist. hehe!
Posted on 07/05/2004 3:33:09 PM PDT by Sweet_Sunflower29
A new law that went into effect last month means Dina Guirguis, an Egyptian in the United States on a temporary student visa, can't renew her Tennessee driver's license when it expires in a few years.
The law allows only U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents to get a Tennessee driver's license. That rules out illegal immigrants and temporary visitors such as Guirguis.
But Tennessee is offering a unique compromise -- a "certificate of driving" that illegal immigrants won't be able to use for official identification but that will allow them to drive. The certificate guarantees the person knows the rules of driving in Tennessee, but can't use it to buy a gun, rent a car or board an airplane.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
The law allows only U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents to get a Tennessee driver's license. That rules out illegal immigrants and temporary visitors such as Guirguis.
But Tennessee is offering a unique compromise - a "certificate of driving" that illegal immigrants won't be able to use for official identification but that will allow them to drive. The certificate guarantees the person knows the rules of driving in Tennessee, but can't use it to buy a gun, rent a car or board an airplane.
Melissa Savage, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said the certificate is the first of its kind, and other states will be watching to see how it works.
That's not much comfort to Guirguis, who will have to start using her passport - written entirely in Arabic and French - as her primary identification in the United States.
On the few occasions she used her passport as ID, the 27-year-old Vanderbilt University Law School graduate said she got "perplexed looks."
"One of the wonderful things about this country is it has traditionally and historically offered non-residents the same protection and due process as citizens," she said. "The change disturbs me."
The purple driving certificate, which looks different from a regular license, reads, "For Driving Purposes Only, Not Valid for Identification."
Gov. Phil Bredesen, whose administration developed the law, said the change was prompted by the threat of terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001.
Savage said Bredesen's reaction is typical. State leaders across the country are taking a hard look at the risks of giving a driver's license to anyone who passes a test - even when they can't prove who they are.
"When it came out that so many of the terrorists had acquired driver's licenses, the trend now is to tighten restrictions," she said. "It's way beyond driving now, and 9-11 put that all into focus."
About 40 states have laws or regulations restricting driver's licenses to those with a "lawful presence" in the country, according to the National Immigration Law Center, an immigrant advocacy group.
This year, legislatures in 25 states considered 49 bills on whether illegal immigrants could hold driver's licenses. Advocates say giving illegal immigrants licenses will improve traffic safety.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed a law last December allowing illegal immigrants to get licenses after opponents claimed it was a threat to national security. In Florida, a similar bill backed by Gov. Jeb Bush was abandoned after law enforcement officials raised security concerns.
National Immigration Law Center policy analyst Tyler Moran said those decisions are knee-jerk reactions by state leaders who have "gotten caught up in policies that make us feel good but don't make us safer."
Instead, Moran said, the focus should be on how to make driver's licenses more secure. That includes stiffer penalties for making fraudulent documents and better training to help workers recognize them, and a review of the types of documents accepted as proof of residency, she said.
Immigrant advocates worry the change will mean increased racial profiling.
"If I'm stopped by police for a minor traffic offense, it could serve as a pretext for investigating further," Guirguis said of carrying the driving certificate. "It's indicative to the overall trend since 9/11 of chipping away of civil liberties."
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition has set up a hot line for people to call if they think their civil rights have been violated over the driving certificate.
But Tom Moore, deputy commissioner for the state Safety Department, said holders of driving certificates won't be unfairly targeted by law enforcement.
"We do not enforce immigration laws. That's the job of the federal government," he said. "They will get treated the same way anyone else would with any other document."
Bredesen said making sure citizens are safe from terrorism "just really trumped most of the other issues."
"The more that I talked with homeland security people in Washington, the more convinced I became that we've just got to tighten up and be very clear on who has this identification," Bredesen said. ---------------------------------------
from Fox23 News
Sorry, I couldn't resist. hehe!
OMG, I LOVE it!!
License? I don't need no steenkin license.
If someone knows they are going to drive, then they should get an international driver's license.
Good Lord,you always have just the right posts available at the right time.
Hysterical!
[TN] Legislators already want 'certificate of driving' law revamped
Williamson County Review Appeal/Associated Press
July 2, 2004
Excerpts [Gannett publication]
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's new driver's certificate for people who cannot prove legal citizenship in the United States has state legislators on both sides of the issue agreeing that changes need to be made to the law.
Two Murfreesboro Republicans, Sen. Bill Ketron and Rep. Donna Rowland, said Thursday that the new "certificate of driving" has created more confusion and problems that either expected.
[snip]
The law was designed to provide a way to track illegal immigrants while ensuring that undocumented workers know the rules of the road.
[snip]
"It needs tweaking," said Ketron, who backed the driving certificate law — the first of its kind in the nation.
"It's far beyond tweaking," said Rowland, who believes legislators should scrap it, go back to requiring Social Security numbers for driver's licenses and dismiss the new two-tiered system.
[snip]
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I compare this to furnishing blank checks to a paroled, felon, check forger.
It's true that it isn't Tennessee's job to enforce federal immigration laws. But it's also true that it isn't Tennessee's job to violate federal immigration laws by aiding and abetting illegal immigration by issuing certificates of driving to illegal aliens.
Hehe!!!!!
Looks like the lines of illegals from across the country will return to Tennessee for this latest scam. Will bring much money into their coffers.
Proabably each state will follow the model, comforting the sheeple with sob stories like this law student who apparently didn't know how to get an International Drivers License.
But I got to hand it to the cheap labor industry and their immigration-ethnic front groups. They're clever. In the face of concerns about security and such they found a solution to protect the only thing they ever cared about - getting American licenses into illegals' hands to replace Americans and legal residents in ttransportation industries and otherwise suppress their wage bargaining power.
Truckers supporting a middle class life? Bye bye. Anyone who drives, including pizza deliverers, sorry dudes.
LOL! Thanks!
But you know "a picture speaks a thousand words," and I sure LOVE pictures. heh!
A government gone mad.....
You can't drive for commercial purposes on an international driver's license. That is the crux of the issue. Job costs that can't be depressed by outsourcing will be depressed by insourcing illegals. That's the Republicrat plan.
In truth, this wage depressing policy disproportionately effects hispanics and other minorities, but the media-validated ethnic organizations are bought off with donations, "partnerships", and other business ties to pretend otherwise. A Corporate Right/Corporate Left alliance.
ping
bttt
Do I smell bribes from the terrorists/drug cartels to Tennessee official?
I assume by your statement that one can commit any other Federal crime in Tennessee in plain view of a State or local LEO and he will do nothing?
"'Driving certificates' for illegal immigrants unveiled"
GREAT!! I hope they aren't forced to carry insurance!!
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