Lexington Herald-Leader | 01/30/2006 | Immigrant driving certificate sees abuse

Lexington Herald-Leader 01/30/2006 Immigrant driving certificate sees abuse: "Tennessee's driving certificate for illegal immigrants isn't valid as a form of ID, but people are paying hundreds of dollars on the black market and traveling hundreds of miles to get one." I was alerted this article when listening to the Laura Ingraham show this morning.

This type of thing irks me. I ranted the other day (somewhat weakly I'm sure) about illegal immigration/migrant workers/undocumented aliens/whatever the term is these days.

'"The disclosures come as Tennessee's certificate system is being studied as a possible model for handling "non-conforming drivers" under the Real ID program enacted by Congress that will set a national standard for driver's licenses by 2008."' They're not valid as a form of I.D., but they are still accepted by banks. Do you think the "study" will find them a "good model?"

What on earth is a state in the U.S. thinking when it skirts Federal law like this? The President wants to allow for "temporary" workers to come to the country and others say "enforcement" hasn't worked so we need this visa deal. How is "enforcement" supposed to work if we actually haven't tried it. Or worse yet, the INS has tried various means of enforcing immigration law, but when successful were slapped for doing their job according to Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in an article titled, "Giving Enforcement a Chance" in the January 30, 2006 issue of National Review (subscription only, however, Digital Access is available for $21.95/yr here, beyond more than worth it, I kind of get bitchy around the time my print copy should be arriving in the mail.).

Krikorian offers numerous instances where the INS attempted enforcing the law successfully, only to have various groups or politicians step in.

Raids conducted in Georgia during harvest season in 1998 netted hundreds of illegal aliens according to Krikorian, yet within days "both state's senators and three congressman, ...sent an outraged complaining" about the INS actions and that the INS '"does not understand the needs of America's farmers."'

Why bother having laws if various interests in the country either won't abide by them or fight them?

Another example he gives is Operation Vanguard in Nebraska 1998-99, which "sought to identify illegal workers at all meatpacking plants in Nebraska." The plan was to slowly "wean" employers off "illegal labor," and was working until "employers and politicians vociferously criticized the very idea of enforcing the immigration law."

Again, why bother having or enacting these laws?

In southern California since 1979 and the enactment of Special Order 40, the LAPD has been "prohibited from taking any action '"with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person,"' according to Jack Dunphy (nom de cyber, National Review Online columnist) today at NRO here, no cost.

He quotes Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather MacDonald that LA has seen an '"illegal alien crime wave,"' since 1979 and figures she has cited. From his article:

"The L.A. County Sheriff reported in 2000 that 23 percent of inmates in county jails were deportable, according to the New York Times."

"In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide in the first half of 2004 (which totaled 1,200 to 1,500) targeted illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) were for illegal aliens."

"The Los Angeles Police Department arrests about 2500 criminally convicted deportees annually, reports the Los Angeles Times."

Disregard for the allowance to enforce immigration law(s) by politicians and other leaders means that any time they suggest their concern for the illegal immigration problem, they are only paying lip service. Like most issues in the country today, that is all any of them are good for these days.