After Ted (tax-and-gouge-me) Kulongoski had issued an executive order in November , which is due to take effect February 4, the number of people taking the test in Spanish fell over 80% versus that of English, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese or Japanese.
Kulongoski argued that Senate Bill 1080, which required applicants to present more documents to prove their identity and their legal presence in order to obtain a driver's license in Oregon was needed to help prevent identity theft and other public safety problems.
Before the law, Oregon had been one of a handful of states that did not require drivers license applicants to prove that they were here legally. Also, Oregon grants licenses for eight years which is longer than many other states.
Immigrant rights advocates said that the law will harm Oregon economy by making it more difficult for undocumented workers to get jobs.
I believe that was the whole point.
"That means that little by little, they're not going to do their work," said Marco Mejia, Portland area director of the American Friends Service Committee Immigration Program. That will have a dramatic impact on organ farms, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that rely on immigrant [illegal slave] labor.
Ultimately, the law will drive up the cost of food for Oregonians. The effect is going to be totally negative to the overall community."
The "American Friends Service Committee Immigration Program"?!?
whatever... it is obviously just another group advocating that subwage labor should be allowed and tolerated, oh yes, there is also that little issued that these people are not supposed to be here in the first place and really do not have any right to work in the United States.
Yes I know, another technicality.
While it is more of a pain in the butt to have to show multiple pieces of identification to get a drivers license, I will have to applaud Kulongoski for waking up long enough to take a stand on this issue. While in my opinion, he claims that it is to help prevent identity theft, personally I think it has something more to do with the fact that Homeland security was not going to accept an Oregon drivers license as valid identification, however I digress.
2 comments:
American Friends Service Committee are the Quakers, not exactly a "whatever". You can judge for yourself at www.afsc.org
And it is highly unlikely that someone who broke a US law (not a moral law) to enter the country would be unwilling to break another law and continue driving or obtain fake documents somewhere.
Mind you, I support the law, for a variety of reasons, but it's vindictive to champion how it will penalize immigrants.
While I respect the traditions of the Quaker community, I think you must agree that they are not very representative of the majority of Americans. Their philosophy is not only directly counter to existing Federal laws but also seems to be a bit hypocritical in that the only way that they can maintain their identity and unity is to be very careful about who they allow into their community. I'm sure they would have something to say if hundreds of thousands of another culture moved into their area and began completely dominating them.
I don't think it's vindictive to point out the obvious such as the following line from the AFSC website: "Imagine that you go to work one morning and discover that your presence in the workplace is considered a violation of federal laws." Imagine that I have snuck over the border, perhaps paid a coyote a lot of money to sneak me in, perhaps purchased illegal identification or lied about my status and then didn't realize it until I was told by immigration officials. As long is this drivel is considered legitimate discourse in the AFSC website and mainstream media, we will sometimes seem vindictive pointing out the obvious.
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