Tweet
INVASION USA
Bill exempts aliens
from California law
Citizens driving without a license
subject to car impound, illegals not
Posted: May 7, 2005
? 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A California state senator reasons that since illegal aliens can't get a
driver's license in his state, they shouldn't be subject to the its
penalties for driving without one ? and he's introduced a bill to exempt
them.
Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, a long-time proponent of driver's
licences for illegal aliens, once claimed on a Spanish-language radio
station that he and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were working together to
craft a driver's license bill, despite the fact that the governor had
campaigned on a platform of denying the documents to those unlawfully in
the U.S. Schwarzenegger vetoed Cedillo's bill under political pressure,
so the senator crafted a measure to circumvent California's ban.
Under present California law, police have the option of impounding the
vehicle of a motorist caught driving without a license. Cedillo's SB 591
would exempt those whose status as illegal aliens prevent them from
having a license.
Serious driving offenses like drunk driving are what police should be
concentrating on, Cedillo said, "not towing people's cars who are taking
their citizen kids to school, church or the supermarket. It's just a bad
policy and it doesn't make sense."
Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a
conservative political activist group, decried the bill's "double
standard."
"If you're a citizen and you break one law, your car will be impounded
for 30 days. If you're already breaking another law and you break this
law, you get away with it free. It's a 'Get-your-car-out-of-impound-free
card' for illegal aliens, and it's wrong," Spence told the L.A. Daily
News.
There's no reason for illegal aliens to drive without a license, notes
Lt. Steven Allen of the LAPD's Valley Traffic Division. Officers are
required to accept valid licenses from other countries, even if the
driver is in the U.S. illegally. California's impounding provision is
useful for getting unlicensed driver's off the street, he adds.
"I probably get more complaints about this very issue from people who are
involved in traffic accidents than any other issue," Allen said. "(They
say) here I am in this country legally and I have a driver's license and
I get rear-ended by someone who has no license, who is here illegally and
has no insurance. How am I ever going to get money for the damage to my
car?"
Allen estimates that his division impounds 80 to 120 vehicles each time
it sets up a license checkpoint.
While the federal Real ID Act, presently before Congress, would deny
standard licenses to illegal aliens, states would still be able to issue
separate documents permitting illegals to drive. SB 591 remains on hold,
pending the federal bill's final outcome, but Cedillo sees it as a backup
if California still refuses to extend driving privileges to illegal
aliens.
Bill exempts aliens
from California law
Citizens driving without a license
subject to car impound, illegals not
Posted: May 7, 2005
? 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A California state senator reasons that since illegal aliens can't get a
driver's license in his state, they shouldn't be subject to the its
penalties for driving without one ? and he's introduced a bill to exempt
them.
Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, a long-time proponent of driver's
licences for illegal aliens, once claimed on a Spanish-language radio
station that he and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were working together to
craft a driver's license bill, despite the fact that the governor had
campaigned on a platform of denying the documents to those unlawfully in
the U.S. Schwarzenegger vetoed Cedillo's bill under political pressure,
so the senator crafted a measure to circumvent California's ban.
Under present California law, police have the option of impounding the
vehicle of a motorist caught driving without a license. Cedillo's SB 591
would exempt those whose status as illegal aliens prevent them from
having a license.
Serious driving offenses like drunk driving are what police should be
concentrating on, Cedillo said, "not towing people's cars who are taking
their citizen kids to school, church or the supermarket. It's just a bad
policy and it doesn't make sense."
Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a
conservative political activist group, decried the bill's "double
standard."
"If you're a citizen and you break one law, your car will be impounded
for 30 days. If you're already breaking another law and you break this
law, you get away with it free. It's a 'Get-your-car-out-of-impound-free
card' for illegal aliens, and it's wrong," Spence told the L.A. Daily
News.
There's no reason for illegal aliens to drive without a license, notes
Lt. Steven Allen of the LAPD's Valley Traffic Division. Officers are
required to accept valid licenses from other countries, even if the
driver is in the U.S. illegally. California's impounding provision is
useful for getting unlicensed driver's off the street, he adds.
"I probably get more complaints about this very issue from people who are
involved in traffic accidents than any other issue," Allen said. "(They
say) here I am in this country legally and I have a driver's license and
I get rear-ended by someone who has no license, who is here illegally and
has no insurance. How am I ever going to get money for the damage to my
car?"
Allen estimates that his division impounds 80 to 120 vehicles each time
it sets up a license checkpoint.
While the federal Real ID Act, presently before Congress, would deny
standard licenses to illegal aliens, states would still be able to issue
separate documents permitting illegals to drive. SB 591 remains on hold,
pending the federal bill's final outcome, but Cedillo sees it as a backup
if California still refuses to extend driving privileges to illegal
aliens.
Comment