Illegal license for madness
So there I was, minding my own business, reviewing last evening's news when I stumbled across a column by Dick Morris in the New York Post. I became so angry I nearly swallowed my tongue. Are we all daft? Is the passage of a few short years enough to dull us to the point of stupidity? Are our members of Congress required to take regular doses of ignorant pills? Some days I think those guys simply can't get any dumber, and then they go and surprise me.
The Senate majority leader has stated his opposition to a proposal that would bar illegal immigrants from getting drivers licenses. All but one of the 19 September 11 hijackers had a valid drivers license, used them to purchase airline tickets, and subsequently murdered thousands of Americans.
What is going on here?
While Senator Frist of Tennessee is playing politics with homeland security, House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner from Wisconsin is pushing legislation to make it illegal for any state to issue a drivers license to an illegal immigrant. He should be applauded but the trouble is, Sensenbrenner is being pressured by both parties to delay his proposal. Why? Because both parties face elections in 2006 and fear a backlash from the nation's large immigrant communities. This is sickening.
It is sickening because drivers licenses are the main American form of ID; in our nationwide post-9/11 security upgrade, they have become, in effect, passports for air travel. According to the Morris article, 10 states now permit illegals to get licenses. And many more have porous systems that do the same by asking only that the applicant produce a Social Security number. It is important to note that New York officials recently discovered that one Social Security number had been used to get 57 driver's licenses!
I sent the following email to my U.S. Senators (Mel Martinez-R and Bill Nelson-D) and Florida District 16 Representative Mark Foley-R. This is serious stuff; If you are so inclined, please feel free to use the text, boilerplate your own message, and let your representative and senators know that this madness must stop:
Dear Representative/Senator [Name Here],
As you know, homeland security transcends party affiliation and partisan loyalty. One of America's most vulnerable loopholes is the fact that 10 states regularly issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, and that many others only require that the applicant produce a Social Security number. We saw on September 11, to our great pain, just how deadly this practice can be.
I urge you as a fellow Floridian and American to support House Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner's proposed legislation to make it illegal for a state to issue a drivers license to any illegal immigrant. I also respectfully request that you make every effort to urge Senator Frist to support amending the Supplemental Defense Appropriation Bill to include a provision that would make it illegal for a state to issue a drivers license to an illegal immigrant.
We are at war with factions that would like nothing better than to harm or murder every man, woman, and child in America, as well as everything we stand for. We must not continue to make it easy for them. Thank you for your consideration in this matter and as always, please contact me should you have any questions.
Sincerely,
your name and contact info
On a personal note, this is disgraceful to the memory of my dear wife Irene and to my dad's parents, all legal and grateful immigrants to this wonderful country. Each of them obeyed our laws, jumped through the hoops, endured the waiting period, and became proud citizens of the greatest nation the world has ever known. Except for sweet Irene, that is; she passed on before she had the opportunity. I wish our members of Congress could have heard her heartfelt regret that she did not have enough time left with us to become an American.