It all started so innocently with Democrats proposing to make our highways safer.
One thing I will give liberals credit for is always having a plan. They start slow and make their schemes sound innocent. For example, they sold most people on the idea that offering driver’s licenses to illegal aliens was a good idea because it would somehow make the roads safer.
Well, who could argue with that logic? The benefit to liberals was that no one could prove if their plan made the roads any safer or not. Or, did they have another more sinister goal?
So, what was the result? There is early DMV data.
According to CBSLA.com, “The Department of Motor Vehicles is so overwhelmed with requests for new driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations that it can take up to three months to get an appointment or a half-day wait in the lobby.” A DMV spokesman said the DMV is working to address the problems, but some people have to take a day off of work to handle a 15-minute transaction.
According to a Tribune News report tabulating the first month totals on Feb. 5, only 57,000 out of 415,000 tested could pass the driver’s test successfully.
OK, so hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens can’t pass the test. What’s missing here is a comparison of test results for a one-month period for legal residents. That would put this in perspective, but the reporter apparently didn’t ask that question.
Not discussed anywhere is how much this is all costing us legal citizen taxpayers. Surely the $33 fee doesn’t cover all the administrative costs.
And, what about those 358,000 who couldn’t pass the test. Are they still driving?
Keep in mind that the liberal goal has always been to circumvent the naturalization process for millions of people they call “undocumented immigrants.” So driver’s licenses were chosen in California as the entry point for their amnesty plan; but driver’s licenses are only the tip of the iceberg. What happens after the person who entered our country illegally gets a license?
This is where the Obama administration doubled down and has apparently determined that illegal aliens could be granted quasi legal status by fiat.
Let’s start with Social Security numbers. I bet you thought you had to be a citizen to get one of these, didn’t you? Well, according to a Fox News report, “Illegal immigrants who apply for work permits in the U.S. under President Obama’s new executive actions will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare, the White House says.”
A Social Security number gives you the right to work, thus millions of formerly undocumented workers can replace American citizens in the work force. You have to wonder what impact this has on the unemployment figures for citizens of the United States.
What about taxes? Some say it’s only right for a person who pays in to the system to receive benefits. I would agree with that. But Townhall.com reported that President Barack Obama’s IRS commissioner confirmed in recent Senate hearings that “the newly quasi-legalized-by-fiat immigrants (would) also be able to claim retroactive refunds for up to three years — even if they didn’t file or pay taxes at the time.” Wow, talk about freebees!
Then there is the core issue — voting rights. You would think that you have to prove that you are a citizen to register to vote. You would be wrong.
Once again Townhall.com reported that during a House of Representatives’ committee hearing earlier this month that the secretaries of state from Kansas and Ohio pointed out to the committee that “for an estimated 4 to 5 million noncitizens, the president’s executive actions provide access to Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses. These are the same documents that federal law requires the states to recognize as valid forms of identification for voter registration. Under federal law, anyone with a valid Social Security number or driver’s license number can register to vote, provided they attest that they are a U.S. citizen.”
Federal law applies to California, too, and I’ll bet that during voter registration drives no one ever checks whether the applicant is a citizen.
I think it’s a really bad policy to create a situation that would allow foreign nationals to vote in our elections, but I guess this doesn’t trouble democrats as long as they vote for them. But sometimes political necessity can adversely impact good judgment.
So now the liberal agenda item to gain more voters has been fully completed — not only could they claim they made our roads safer (a claim that cannot be verified) they have also converted millions of people to legal status, provided them with all the benefits that are afforded to citizens of the United States and created millions of new Democrat voters.
So were illegal alien drivers’ licenses a good idea after all?
— Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry and has been active with Lompoc municipal government commissions and committee since 1992, including 12 years on the Lompoc Planning Commission. He is also a voting member of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association. Contact him at news@noozhawk.com. The opinions expressed are his own.
