Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and I have something in common. We’re both Southern California natives who grew up in the 1950s when the state deservedly earned its nickname “Golden.”
Beck was born in Long Beach, I’m from Santa Monica, but I’m sure our memories of California a half-century ago are similar. Given our shared history, I’m baffled why Beck would be so foolish as to endorse driver’s licenses for aliens.
Surely Beck remembers, as I do, California before the unchecked Hispanic influx. Regardless of Beck’s immigration philosophy, no one can dispute that California was a better place to live 50 years ago. Immigration, and the population explosion it triggered, is a leading reason why California’s quality of life has deteriorated so sharply.
Not even Beck can argue that giving aliens driver’s licenses wouldn’t further incentivize more illegal immigration. As it is, California offers plenty of benefits. Parents enroll their children in K-12 schools, receive emergency health care and access pre-natal care.
But California offers a deal sweeter than most other states. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Dream Act, which allows alien children to attend California state universities with taxpayer funding. Brown has also quashed E-Verify so aliens can enter the underground economy with impunity.
Adding to the mystery of why Beck is so supportive of illegal immigrants’ entitlement is that his family includes five sworn law enforcement officers. Beck’s father, George, retired in 1980 from the LAPD as deputy chief; his two sons are police officers. His sister was a detective and wife, a K-9 narcotics drug investigator. Let’s hope that at least some among them advocate for upholding the law.
Here’s how Beck sees the license issue. Referring to what he calls “reality,” Beck claims licensed aliens driving somehow leads to safer road conditions. Beck favors a “provisional” or “non-resident” license. In a far-fetched example Beck offered, he speculated that a licensed driver would be less likely to flee the scene of a hit-and-run accident than one who has a license. This may make sense to Beck, but it doesn’t to me.
With or without a license, multiple variables are at play when a driver flees — is there a probable fatality, is he intoxicated, does he have outstanding warrants? Furthermore, licensed or not, aliens are the most dangerous drivers, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Since California has the nation’s highest number of aliens, it also has the most hit-and-run fatalities.
Beck’s advocacy calls his judgment into question. Beck’s predecessor, William Bratton, unsuccessfully urged alien licensing. During the past 15 years, the driver’s license question has been soundly defeated multiple times. In the late 1990s, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo introduced a bill that he reintroduced so often in light of its ongoing failure that he became known as “One Bill Gil.”
In 2003, Gov. Gray Davis’ promise to sign an alien license bill led to his recall. Davis’ successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, vetoed similar legislation multiple times. Even the ultra-liberal sitting governor Brown doesn’t like the idea. A string of defeats that long and pronounced should give Beck an idea of how unpopular his idea is.
Beck is neither a legislator nor a lobbyist. He is appointed to enforce the law. As part of his duties, Beck oversees nearly 10,000 officers and 3,000 civilian staff. In 2011, Los Angeles had 300 murders as well as thousands of assaults, property crimes and car crashes. Beck has plenty to do without taking on the irresponsible and impossible task of licensing aliens.
The debate about whether aliens deserve licenses wouldn’t exist if they were where they should be — back home.
— Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns — mostly about immigration and related social issues — since 1990 and is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). After 25 years as an English as a Second Language teacher in the Lodi Unified School District, Guzzardi has retired to Pittsburgh. He can be reached at joeguzzardi@capsweb.org.