Elsewhere,
Your question is the exact question I personally asked my State Senator & Representative a couple of years ago when all of this started. They gave me a BS answer I will get to in a moment. I then called the INS (immigration and naturalization service), to no avail. Here is a brief history how this insanity came about.
As you may have figured out, I live in Tennessee. In 2000, a State Representative named Mike Turner who is a fireman in real life decided it would be wise to submit a bill before the General Assembly to give illegal aliens State issued driver?s license. Amazingly, it passed by an overwhelming majority. The people of Tennessee were stunned and outraged. We protested at the State Capitol Building. We called for Turner?s removal from office. I personally called both of my Senators and my Representative in Washington DC and told them that our State Government had passed a law which was repugnant to the Federal Constitution, and quoted the appropriate section of the Constitution. All 3 laughed at me. I even called the US Border Patrol and told them where they could pick up thousands of law-breakers, and all they had to do was show up at any DL station in the State and start filling the patty wagons. They told me they did not have the man-power.
Over the past 3 years the licensing stations have been packed with illegals, preventing law-abiding, natural-born citizens from being able to get their license renewed. The illegals will arrive as early as 3:00 in the morning to stand in line, and by the time the doors open at 9:00, there are more people waiting for license than can be handled in a day?s time. One brave Fire Marshal in a small town near where I live shut down the DL station in his community, citing that the building was over-crowded according to the local fire code. He was chastised by the mayor of his town for using his position to further his political beliefs.
Another aspect of this fiasco is that State Law forbids any government document or publication from being printed in any language other than English. Needless to say, the State is breaking its own laws by printing the DL tests in Spanish, as well as hiring interpreters to ?help? the illegals pass the DL test. Yeah, right! I?ve always wondered how they can read road signs if they can?t read enough English to take a test? But Government knows best...
The logic behind this insane law was that Mr. Turner, the man I mentioned above who started this whole thing, believes that if we licensed these illegals, then they wouldn?t get in wrecks and would obey the rules of the road. I questioned him once and asked if they, illegals, don?t obey our laws when they cross into our country illegally, what on earth makes him think that they would obey the laws if they obtained a DL? He refused to answer me. Go figure. Well, as one might expect, this whole thing has backfired in so many ways that I can?t even begin to list them all here, and it has become a National embarrassment for the good people of Tennessee. Let?s not forget that we live in an age of political correctness, so you cannot discriminate against anyone, even criminals.
And then came September 11 th , 2001. Everyone started screaming their fool heads off for some form of a National ID card. Well, the Driver?s License fit the bill and became our National Identification. Well, guess what? Some of the hijackers had drivers license which were used as identification and which now have been traced back to Tennessee. There was even the mysterious death of an employee from a Memphis Drivers Licensing Station who had been selling DLs to illegals, and was traced directly to at least 2 of the terrorists of 911. Things begin to change at this point. Over the past 2 & ½ years, some airports began to refuse to accept Tennessee DLs as a form of identification to board planes. As well, some Police Departments in surrounding States were not recognizing Tennessee DLs as identification. And, back home in Tennessee, the accident rates which were supposed to go down by the issuance of DLs to illegals continued to rise. And so it goes...
During the recent session of the General Assembly here in Tennessee, these ?Einsteins? who had originally passed the insane DL law decided that they would now pass the law quoted in the article you posted above. This was their way of solving the problem. They continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that these criminals have entered our country illegally, they break our laws by remaining here, and the song out of Washington DC remains the same, "There are too many of them for us to try and deport them." And so it goes...
Keep this issue in mind when you vote in the upcoming election. The current President has thumbed his nose at the Constitution he swore to uphold and defend, and has not done 1 single thing to stop these criminals from breaking our laws by entering this country illegally. Also, keep in mind that his constituents need the cheap labor force provided by these illegals, otherwise this issue would be an issue for him. And don?t forget, just 1 week before September 11th, Bush was scheduled to meet with the president of Mexico to discuss giving amnesty to more than 12 million criminals. Those talks are back on the table now.
Swamp Thing