Replies

Aired 1/28/05 LOU DOBBS CNN

DOBBS: Later here, Senator Dianne Feinstein will join me. She's proposed new legislation intended to hold the federal government responsible for the immigration crisis in this country -- at least part of it. Senator Feinstein will be our guest.

Some states in this country are allowing illegal aliens now to use a government identification number to obtain driver's licenses, voter identification cards and even home loans. These identification cards were created for use only by the Internal Revenue Service. Now some states are using those cards as a way to grant illegal aliens the benefits of U.S. citizenship.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Milwaukee, Mitchell Bank is one of several Wisconsin banks where illegal aliens can get mortgages.

All it takes is an individual taxpayer identification number, an ITIN, given out by the Internal Revenue Service. That number is meant to collect income taxes from people without Social Security numbers.

But Wisconsin's Housing Authority is going a step further, letting illegal aliens use the number to get a mortgage. They say they're just serving a growing market.

ROMANS: Critics say the program rewards law breakers.

GLENN GROTHMAN, WISCONSIN STATE SENATE: It just makes a mockery of our laws, and it is an insult not only to American citizens, but it's an insult to the employees of our immigration service, and it's an insult to anybody who appears foolishly to try to wait patiently in line to come into this country legally.

ROMANS: The program is recognized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who says most banks understand that illegal aliens are in a "peculiar position." Still, the IRS position is clear. The ITIN is to be used for tax purposes only. The IRS has issued at least seven million ITIN numbers since 1996. It was so nervous about abuse of the numbers, it's warned governors and state motor vehicle departments that ITINs were not designed to serve as personal identification and should not be used for driver's licenses.

Still, across this country, illegal aliens are using these cards, and at least five states are accepting them.

DOBBS: I'm all but speechless. The moronic posturing by people on this immigration crisis is just -- it's stunning. The mentality. I mean, how do you explain people sitting there in the Housing Authority basically postulating as if they were holding forth for a national policy and just ignoring a set of rules and laws and regulations that have been on the books for years.

ROMANS: Well, Lou, the press officer for WHEDA, the Wisconsin Housing Authority, told me he's as illegal as illegal aliens because when he was 7, he stole with his brother a candy bar. He broke a law. He's illegal. That's equivalent to this. He thinks that it's a reality, that there are 10 million illegal aliens in this country. It's a market that needs to be served.

DOBBS: And that's the kind of mentality that we're dealing with. Hard-working people in this country, many of them immigrants -- legal immigrants -- having to deal with this, and a government that is just seeing fit at the state and federal level to ignore the law and the wellbeing of the country.

That brings us to the subject of our poll tonight. The question is: Do you believe state governments should allow illegal aliens to use a government identification number to obtain rights intended for U.S. citizens? Yes or no. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We wouldn't blame you if you added a few comments in point of fact with that vote.
---snip___
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/28/ldt.01.html
Aired 1/28/05
_______
Do you believe state governments should allow illegal aliens to use a federal identification number to obtain rights intended for U.S. citizens?

Yes 7% 320 votes

No 93% 4485 votes

Total: 4805 votes
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/