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âºGovernor Offers Licenses to the Undocumented
Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.) announced a new policy that would give drivers licenses to New York residents, regardless of legal status. The governor’s order would start in November by renewing old licenses and six to eight months later; it would be open to all of the state of New York’s residents.
This order was done by the governor as a security measure and to avoid fraud. Among other things it requires a valid foreign passport and another document that proves one’s identity.Spitzer stopped a 2002 executive order according to Newsday from then Gov. George Pataki (N.Y.) that required for obtaining a driver’s license, a social security card or a letter from the federal government proving ineligibility. Spitzer’s argument was that this imposed a hardship on the undocumented.
Eight other states do not require a driver to demonstrate legal status in order to obtain a driver’s license. They are Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
âºIllinois Sued by the United States over Immigration Law
The United States vs. the State of Illinois is the latest court battle over immigration enforcement. The Justice Department is suing on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security based on an Illinois law that bars businesses from using employee verification programs until the data is more reliable and accurate.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the Los Angeles Times that the Illinois law was the boldest anti enforcement measure he had ever seen. The suit is intended to send a message to the rest of the country in immigration enforcement. Illinois is home to the fourth largest undocumented population in the country. According to the Los Angeles Times, it is estimated to be 500,000 people.
Governor Rod Blagojevich signed the bill into law on August 13 according to Abby Ottenhoff, a spokeswoman for the governor to protect employees from a flawed federal program.
The worker verification program known as E-verify allows workers to check eligibility through databases at the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. If the numbers do not match in eight business days, the employer has to fire the worker or face sanctions.
âºRepublicans Advised to Tone Down Immigration Rhetoric
Texas Republicans said the harsh tone of the immigration issue could cost the Republican Party deeply by losing the Latino vote. Luis Saenz who was the campaign manager for Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) advised the governor to not talk about keeping the Latinos out.
In a conference on Hispanic politics at the University of Texas in Austin he said that republicans who use alarmist rhetoric that sounds hostile to Hispanics are not doing any favors for the party.
“It’s almost an attack on me when I listen to them,” he was quoted saying in the Dallas Morning News.
The same article mentions Democratic consultant Kelly Fero who believes the talk of building a wall and arresting the undocumented would benefit Democrats. Republican pollster, Mike Baselice said the GOP lost ground in California, when in 1994 Proposition 187 sought to ban undocumented children from public schools.
“We have to very careful to include Hispanics and not have language like this that excludes them,” Baselice said.
⺠ICE Visits McDonald’s
Federal agents arrested 54 undocumented workers at 11 McDonald’s restaurants in Reno, Sparks, and Fernley Nev. on Thursday, Sept. 27. More than half were released the next day pending a court date. Seven of them were deported to Mexico because of previous violations and 17 remained in custody.
“They are people suspected of being in the country illegally. As far as I know, they were all McDonald’s employees,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Spokesman Richard Rocha said to the Associated Press.
Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, as well as Reno area Latino leaders joined in opposition to the arrests. Cashell, a Republican who opposes illegal immigration said that there had to be a better way to do this.
“Think of some of the people who were arrested and picked up; they have children. They don’t know where their mama or their daddy is. That’s not right,” Cashell was quoted in the Associated Press as saying.
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