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SANTA ROSA — A former Santa Rosa DMV clerk has lost an appeal of her conspiracy conviction for helping undocumented immigrants obtain state drivers licenses or ID cards for hefty fees. A jury convicted Aida Pulido, 49, and an accomplice in May 2008 of one count of conspiracy and four counts of obtaining false DMV documents. Pulido was sentenced to 16 month in prison. Witnesses testified that her accomplice, Teofilo Arechiga Palomera, 62, of Pittsburg, would find Latinos who had no proof of legal residency — many of whom lived outside Sonoma County — and promise them a valid state...

Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles. And yet, until recently, smiling was still permitted there. No more. As part of the DMV's effort to develop super-secure driver's licenses and foolproof identification cards, the agency has issued a smile ban, directing customers to adopt a "neutral expression" in their portraits, thereby extinguishing whatever happiness comes with finally hearing one's number called. The driver's license photo, it seems, is destined to look like a mug shot. DMV officials say the smile ban...

Illegal immigrants in the Bay State could be issued driver’s licenses under a controversial amendment tucked inside the house’s comprehensive transportation reform bill yesterday. Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones (R-North Reading) blasted the measure - which could come up for a vote today - saying undocumented aliens could use their driver’s licenses to try to vote or to board planes illegally. “I don’t think this is the time or place for this,” Jones said. “If you’re here illegally, this driver’s license could be a breeder document to get so many other things.”

Talk radio’s Rush Limbaugh and Democratic firebrand Rahm Emanuel agree on one thing: Barack Obama’s presidency could alter America for decades. Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff, recently told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the financial meltdown provides an opportunity “to do things that Americans have pushed off for years.” Limbaugh offered the contrary view, with this warning: “We're about to see an encroachment by the left that will take a generation to roll back.” Here are a “dirty dozen” changes Team Obama is most likely to enact. Ratings Key [1 to 10 scale]: Probability Likelihood that the measure...

Obama plans to give Driver's Licenses to Illegal Aliens. It's about time some of these ads start running - now let's run them in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Indiana! Run ads showing Obama saying he will give Driver's License to Illegal Immigrants!!!! Run ads showing Obama saying he will give Driver's License to Illegal Immigrants!!!!

A California bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses is one step closer to becoming a state law. State senate bill 60 passed through the assembly Friday. If the bill becomes law, legislators say the estimated 2.2 million undocumented immigrants in California will apply for one, an idea that's creating a lot of controversy. "I think they should be able to get licenses just like everybody else," said Nicole Holland, a Fresnan who supports the bill. "They are already committing a crime coming over here," said Albert Ratliff, a Fresnan who opposes the bill. "I don't think...

Almost $3,000 [was] the price illegal immigrants from Brazil were apparently willing to pay two Russian-speaking organizers of a scheme to get them New Mexico licenses. Court documents filed Thursday charged James Kulekhov and Anastissiya Galiullina, with illegally transporting eight Brazilian nationals from Newark, N.J., to New Mexico for the purpose of obtaining state driver's licenses. Galiullina is from Kazakhstan and overstayed her visa. She needed a Russian interpreter for court proceedings Wednesday. Agents were still trying to figure out Kulekhov's true identity. ... Kulekhov and Galiullina are scheduled to be arraigned this morning in federal court. Two of the...

Democratic Debate on CNN 11-15-2007...

Gov. Martin O'Malley's decision to cooperate with the Bush administration on Real ID is a mistake. The decision turns clerks at Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration into immigration officers, forcing them to ask prospective drivers about their immigration status and then assess the validity of documents - a troublesome chore even for well-trained immigration officers. Moreover, Real ID will push illegal immigrants further into the shadows, where they will be deterred from reporting crimes to police or using emergency rooms. Because those who drive will not have a license or liability insurance, the risk for all drivers will likely increase. Although...

Deadline's up to make sure BMV, Social Security records match. The The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles says it will revoke the driver's licenses of up to 56,000 people across the state in coming weeks. They are among the 206,000 people who had received letters in November saying the information on their licenses didn't match Social Security records. Thursday was the deadline to fix the mismatched data -- be it their name, gender, date of birth or Social Security number. The whole effort -- a comparison of the BMV's 6.4 million records with those of Social Security -- had raised...

ama Defends Driver's Licenses for Illegals in Interview with ABC News February 02, 2008 1:57 PM ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told ABC's David Muir Saturday that his support for driver's licenses for illegal immigrants will not block his path to the White House because he and G.O.P. frontrunner John McCain share substantial overlap on immigration. "I think they will pounce on any issue that has to do with immigration," said Obama, referring to Republicans, "but my position has been very similar to John McCain's, who's may be the likely Republican nominee, and if he wants...

Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times, and one of the three members of the mainstream media who asked questions at Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate on CNN, neglected to mention Hillary Clinton’s previous waffling on the subject of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants when he asked the former First Lady about the issue. "Senator Clinton, Senator Obama has said that he favors allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, and you opposed that idea. Why?" As CNSNews Editor-in-Chief Terry Jeffrey noted after the November 15, 2007 Democratic debate (where Clinton answered that she did not support...

Washington -- Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It's a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not. Obama's stand could come back to haunt him not only in a general election, but with other voters in California, where driver's licenses for illegal immigrants helped...

Michigan will no longer let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses, a practice just seven other states continue to allow. Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, who oversees the state motor vehicle department, announced the new policy Monday and said it takes effect Tuesday. Some people who are in Michigan legally but not permanent residents also will be denied licenses unless state law is changed. The change is aimed at complying with an opinion issued last month by Attorney General Mike Cox, who said granting licenses to illegal immigrants is inconsistent with federal law. Opinions by the attorney general's office...

There are a few scenes in classic movies that are so effective that the dialogue has passed into the common language. One of those is in The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Mexican bandits have confronted American gold miners, including Humphrey Bogart. The bandits claim to be federal police. Challenged to produce their badges, one gives the memorable reply, “Badges? We don’t need no steenkin’ badges,” and then they begin shooting. Well a situation began in New Jersey, then played out in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which justifies the modified use of that line. It also should concern all...

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration is drawing up plans for a two-tiered licensing system that would issue different driver’s licenses to undocumented aliens and legal residents. Maryland is currently one of eight states that permit illegal immigrants to get licenses. Under the new system, undocumented immigrants would have to prove only that they live in Maryland, but they would not be able to use their licenses to board airplanes, enter federal buildings or cross borders, the Washington Post reports. Maryland Senate Minority Leaders David Brinkley, a Republican, is critical of the plan backed by the Democratic administration. “The state is...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of several Latino community leaders and legislators on Sunday, including state senator Gil Cedillo. The Los Angeles democrat has been one of the state's leading supporters of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. Hillary Clinton has said she opposes such licenses. Clinton has so far won most of the endorsements from California's major Hispanic leaders, including L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. This comes on the same day that Obama, while campaigning in Las Vegas, unveiled an economic stimulus package costing up to $120 billion that his campaign said...

There are a few scenes in classic movies that are so effective that the dialogue has passed into the common language. One of those is in The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Mexican bandits have confronted American gold miners, including Humphrey Bogart. The bandits claim to be federal police. Challenged to produce their badges, one gives the memorable reply, “Badges? We don’t need no steenkin’ badges.” And then they begin shooting. Well a situation began in New Jersey, then played out in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which justifies the modified use of that line. It also should concern all...

Court upholds denial of driver's licenseBy Liz F. Kay and Tim Wheeler | Sun reporters January 10, 2008 The state's high court upheld yesterday a decision to deny a driver's license to a Maryland resident whose permit in New Jersey was suspended because he had forged citizenship documents. Ramiro Silba Alavez, who is from Mexico, received a New Jersey license that was withdrawn after it expired in 1991, according to the decision, because the applicant had made misrepresentations on his application when he arrived in the United States. Unlike Maryland, New Jersey requires applicants to prove they are American citizens...

WASHINGTON — Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal officials. The Homeland Security Department has spent years crafting the final regulations for the REAL ID Act, a law designed to make it harder for terrorists, illegal immigrants and con artists to get government-issued identification. The effort once envisioned to take effect in 2008 has been pushed back in the hopes of winning over skeptical state officials.

Raleigh — Later this year, the way you get your driver's license will change. Whether you are renewing or getting a new license, it will take more than a simple trip down to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get it. There are about 115 DMV offices across the state that make drivers licenses on-site. Because of a new law that takes effect July 1, the days of over-the-counter driver's license are numbered. “You will walk out of our office with a temporary driving permit, good for 20 days,” said Wayne Hurder, of the state Department of Motor Vehicles. “It...

Bar codes, ghost images, laser perforations, covert technology— oh my. New Mexico driver's licenses are definitely going high-tech next year, and with good reason. The Motor Vehicle Division is targeting the nightmarish problem of identity theft with the new licenses, which go into production in February and should be available statewide by mid-April.~~snip~~All of this should greatly improve the chances that no one else is walking around claiming to be you, or using a phony driver's license to cash checks or make purchases. That is reassuring. But a fairly large loophole remains. New Mexico will still issue driver's licenses to...

Governor Spitzer’s plan was another incentive for illegal behavior. During the debate over Governor Eliot Spitzer’s now-defunct plan to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, most discussion centered on the scheme’s national-security implications. But few people asked an obvious question: Why does New York State, nearly 2,000 miles from the Mexican border, have so many illegals in the first place? Why do undocumented immigrants—whether they come through the Mexican border, by boat from Caribbean islands, or by plane through our airports—bypass so many other states and wind up here? The answer helps demonstrate why Spitzer’s plan was so wrongheaded. America...

Gov. Matt Blunt unleashed his latest proposal Monday in a flurry of legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. The proposed law, Blunt said at a news conference held at the Cape Girardeau Police Department, would specifically prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses, penalize those who are here illegally and punish those who help illegals obtain licenses. The state already has safeguards intended to prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses, but Missouri lacks a specific law prohibiting it, Blunt said. The penalties are still open for discussion, but Blunt suggested making the first offense a class B...

Falls Church, Virginia- Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), today announced that the group has filed a shareholder proposal for consideration by Anheuser-Busch shareholders. The proposal asks the company to disclose its charitable contributions, and provide a rationale for each, especially for “controversial” grantees, such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). The supporting statement notes that the company has been MALDEF’s largest corporate supporter in recent years, and states: “MALDEF favors the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, and sued the state of Virginia to allow illegal immigrants to attend...

Rush Limbaugh has often indicated that he has no beef with Wolf Blizter. And I must say that I've generally found Blitzer to be a straight shooter who has rarely-if-ever provided grist for my NewsBusting mill. All of which makes that much more perplexing Blitzer's bail-out at arguably the key moment last night's debate. The CNN anchor's failure to follow up on Hillary's monosyllabic answer on driver's licenses for illegals, letting her slide with her terse "no," was in my opinion the greatest single act of journalistic malpractice thus far in this campaign season.

Hillary Clinton might be on one side of the border, then the other when it comes to issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but Mexican officials know exactly where they stand: no licenses for illegals. All of Mexico's 31 states require foreign residents to hold a valid visa if they want a Mexican license, according to a survey published Thursday in The Arizona Republic. "When it comes to foreigners, we're a little more strict here," Alejandro Ruíz, director of education at the Mexican Automobile Association, told the newspaper. Immigrant drivers became an overnight national campaign issue when Democratic presidential hopeful...

Clinton Says No to Licenses for Illegals Nov 14 05:28 PM US/Eastern By DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor. Clinton has faced criticism from candidates in both parties for her noncommittal answers on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attempt to allow illegal immigrants in his state to receive driver's licenses. Spitzer abandoned the effort Wednesday. "I support Governor Spitzer's decision today...

Captain Renault would be shocked: Hillary Clinton's campaign put pressure on Eliot Spitzer to drop his disastrous licenses-for-illegals plan. The word came from crack NY Post Albany reporter Fred Dicker, appearing on this afternoon's Hardball. View video here.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday he was abandoning a plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but said that the federal government had "lost control" of its borders and left states to deal with the consequences. "I have concluded that New York state cannot successfully address this problem on its own," Mr. Spitzer said at a news conference, flanked by members of the state's congressional delegation.

Congressional aides say New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to abandon his plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Officials familiar with the decision tell The Associated Press that Spitzer will meet Wednesday morning with New York's congressional delegation. Many of them have openly opposed the program and debate over the issue has spilled over into the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement has been made, say that after the meeting, Spitzer will say he is shelving the plan and that immigration is a federal...

Embattled Gov. Spitzer yesterday for the first time pointedly refused to rule out shelving his controversial plan to license illegals. Spitzer spoke to reporters in Puerto Rico after privately addressing Latino lawmakers at their annual island conference......Spitzer's Homeland Security director, Michael Balboni, originally conceded to The Post that while the administration is "not there" in terms of pulling the plug, "after all that has gone on, you'd have to be completely tone deaf not to pay attention.

The woman who took a stranger's driver's license and used it to buy a $419,000 townhouse in Fairfax County last year was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday. The scheme unraveled for Elizabeth Cabrera-Rivera, 40, not when she obtained two mortgages for the house in the stranger's name, or when she deeded the house to herself. It was when she refinanced her second mortgage, and the bank sent an overpayment check to the stranger, that Cabrera-Rivera was caught. She was arrested at the BB and T bank in Arlington County that figured out her scheme. The victim of the...

Rep. Peter King on his legislation to bar states from granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens. 'This is one time when good government and good politics come together.“ Rep. King will introduce a bill to block New York and other states from licensing illegal immigrants. The ranking GOP member of the House Homeland Security Committee, expects to introduce legislation next week with Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas).....King said he decided on the legislation after hearing Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff say that although he opposes licensing illegals, there is nothing the federal government can do to stop a state from...

The hot button issues of whether Illegals here in the United States ought to be allowed to get Drivers Licenses is one that needs honest debate. Not obscure or hand-waving methods of getting around a truthful and simple YES or NO answer. So, since 77% of recently polled Americans stated firmly that they DO NOT want illegals to get licenses, I thought it prudent to write the obvious reasons out. #1 - Because people who are here ILLEGALLY don't have rights in this country (contrary to politicians beliefs). In this way, Senator Dodd made a good point - driving is...

NEW YORK (AP) - Pressed anew on whether she supports granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday it depends on the state. In a CNN interview, Clinton, a New York senator, reiterated her support for governors who must contend with large populations of undocumented workers in the absence of federal immigration reform. She then was asked whether she thinks it is a "good idea" for governors to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. "It depends upon what state they're in. It depends upon what they think the risks are," Clinton said. "A governor of...

Former President Clinton on Monday compared Republican criticism of his wife's position on driver's license for illegal immigrants to the ads that helped sink John Kerry's White House hopes in 2004. "I had the feeling that at the end of that last debate we were about to get into cutesy land again," Clinton told some 3,000 members of the American Postal Worker's Union at a convention. At the end of a televised Democratic presidential debate last week, Hillary Rodham Clinton hedged on whether she supported a plan by her home state governor, New York's Eliot Spitzer, to issue licenses to...

Voters oppose driver's licenses for illegal aliens by a nearly five-to-one margin, a new Fox 5/Washington Times/Rasmussen Reports poll finds. As immigration politics explode into the presidential race, polls show Americans are taking a hard line on benefits for illegal aliens, including opposing driver's licenses and such taxpayer-funded benefits as scholarships at state colleges for illegal-alien students. The new poll found 77 percent of the adults surveyed opposed making driver's licenses available to illegal aliens, while just 16 percent supported the idea. Licenses fared poorly across party lines, including near-blanket opposition among self-identified Republicans, at 88 percent. Among independents and...

The governor had the right idea on immigrant licenses, but his political malpractice has alienated both sides in this overheated debate Gov. Eliot Spitzer has dug a political hole so deep on driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants that the issue may be irretrievably entombed. That would be a shame. In this state, about a million undocumented immigrants live off the books and many drive without licenses or insurance. Bringing them into the system, while making it more secure overall, is the pragmatic thing to do. Spitzer's objective is sound, his intentions honorable. But that's not enough. Ideas have to be...

November 02, 2007, 6:00 a.m. Spitzer in the Face of Law By The Editors At Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton finally gave her primary opponents something to work with. Asked about New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, Clinton articulated a — how shall we put it? — nuanced position on the issue. She said, “What Governor Spitzer is trying to do is fill the vacuum� left by the federal government’s failure to pass an amnesty for illegal immigrants — aka “comprehensive� immigration reform — last June. When, later in the...

Summary: At a Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Sen. Hillary Clinton ducked some questions and gave misleading answers to others. She falsely implied that the reason White House documents about her communications with her husband haven't been released is due to bureaucratic delays, and she avoided saying whether she would ask Bill Clinton to clear their release from the National Archives. She avoided a yes-or-no answer to whether she supports giving New York driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and at one point denied saying the idea made sense, when in fact she said less than two weeks earlier that it "makes...

Governor Spitzer spent Friday afternoon defending his three tiered license plan that still includes giving licenses to illegals. He says, "This is a plan designed to increase security. Some folks are talking about this and viewing this as an immigration issue. If you want to talk about immigration raise that with our members of Congress." Lawmakers in Orleans and Genesee Counties continued to hammer the Governor's plan at a news conference Friday morning. Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Republican from Batavia, "It's not about immigration, it's not about aliens, it's about what legal and illegal and what’s right and wrong." A Channel...

ROCHESTER - There is a new debate in Monroe County related to Governor Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The debate has worked its way into the county legislature races. It has to do with a campaign mailing sent out by the Republican Party. It is not so much what it says but what it shows that has members of the Islamic community upset. The flyer suggests that county legislature democrats want to license potential terrorists and the literature contains images intended to depict terrorists. "Seeing these things are very wrong for me to see it in...

Fred Thompson responds (to Clinton) on whether to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Video at the link.

It is hard to exaggerate the reaction in the media and among presidential contenders to Hillary Clinton's debate gaffe Tuesday night. Everyone, it seems, has been waiting since about the time Barack Obama joined the race (in January) for something, anything, to jolt the stagnant Democratic field. Everyone of course, except Hillary Clinton. So kudos to Chris Dodd, who in the final 10 minutes of a two-hour debate was paying enough attention to raise his hand as the sole opponent of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. By doing so, Dodd kept the issue going...

Governor Eliot Spitzer says one benefit to giving licenses to illegal immigrants will be safer streets, but an author of a report the governor often cites in defense of his plan, says there is no proof this plan will make streets safe. NY1’s Josh Robin filed the following exclusive report. Governor Eliot Spitzer has cited a AAA report showing that those driving without a license are more dangerous to fellow motorist, as a defense for his driver’s license plan. "AAA found that, unsurprisingly, unlicensed drivers are more likely to be involved in hit-and-run accidents and five times more likely to...

NEWS RELEASE Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms12500 N.E. Tenth PlaceBellevue, WA  98005HILLARY WANTS DRIVERS LICENSES FOR ILLEGALS, OPPOSES CARRY LICENSES FOR AMERICAN CITIZENSFor Immediate Release: November 2, 2007 BELLEVUE, WA – New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton supports giving drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens, but she opposes right-to-carry statutes that provide concealed carry licenses for law-abiding American citizens and others who are here legally, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. “Based on her comments during Tuesday night’s debate,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “Sen. Clinton must think...

ALBANY, N.Y. - Senate Republicans promised Wednesday to delay or derail Gov. Eliot Spitzer's new plan to make it easier to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Assembly's minority said they will file a lawsuit Thursday to stop Spitzer's "illegal plan," which was announced Saturday. Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco of Schenectady said it would "make our state and nation a less secure, less safe place." While the GOP-led Senate said it will continue trying to block the license program through legislation, and may deny funds in the 2008-09 budget, the Democrat-led Assembly has no plans...

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson suggested on Thursday that Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's lack of clarity in her debate answers raises questions about her ability to handle diplomacy. Addressing a crowd of Republican donors, the former Tennessee senator joined Clinton's Democratic opponents in seizing on her debate answer on whether she supported a plan by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to grant drivers' licenses to illegal immigrations. At first, Clinton appeared to praise the plan. Pressed later in the debate, she seemed to backtrack, saying she didn't say it should be done. Her campaign sought to clarify her comments...

Spitzer Sued Over License PlanStory Updated: Oct 31, 2007 at 6:40 PM EDT Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens has sparked legal action by Assembly republicans, and created a point of controversy for the democratic candidates for president. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R,C,I-Schenectady-Saratoga) plans to file a lawsuit Thursday accusing Spitzer and DMV Commissioner David Swarts of attempting to enact an "unlawful plan." Tedisco cites five causes of action, including an existing state law that requires driver's license applicants to have a valid Social Security number. Moderator Tim Russert asked Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY)...