Fox News Interviews CIS's Jon Feere on Driver's Licenses for Illegal Aliens

By Jon Feere on November 19, 2014

Early this morning I was interviewed by Fox News' Elisabeth Hasselbeck on California's plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens. It is part of a state-level attempt at amnesty that many states are engaging in. California wants to blur the line between legal residents and illegal aliens while creating an environment that is very welcoming to foreigners who believe they are above the law.

 

States do have a role to play on immigration, but they shouldn't be in the business of undermining federal law and encouraging more illegal immigration into our country. And that's exactly what California is doing. Ten other states and the District of Columbia also grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Likely, these would be overturned if the issue was put before voters. Two weeks ago, Oregon voters stopped their state legislature from moving forward with such a plan after Measure 88 was voted down by a margin of 2-to-1.

The California DMV is bending over backwards to accommodate illegal aliens.
First, they have announced that they're extending office hours because they know there is going to be a rush of applicants. They are also doubling the appointment schedule from 45 days to 90 days in advance, something they've never done for citizens. Perhaps most significant, California is opening a number of new DMV offices to accommodate the influx. To put the undertaking in perspective, just one of these new offices has nearly 150 staffers. California taxpayers are footing the bill.

Second, they have come up with a new application process that should allow nearly all illegal aliens to get a driver's license. The California guidelines offer a number of documents illegal aliens can use to obtain a license, but the primary document most Mexican illegal aliens will be likely using is the Mexican-government-issued ID card called the "matricula consular" which is considered a security risk by the FBI and is completely unverifiable by U.S. officials. The Mexican government issues this to any Mexican national who wants one. But if even that's too much, the DMV has created an interview process for illegal aliens where they can plead with an interviewer and try to make the case that they are who they say they are. No other state is doing this.

It seems very likely that virtually everyone applying for these driver's licenses is going to receive one. To that extent, it will be similar to Obama’s lawless deferred action amnesty program where 99.5 percent of applicants are approved.

California is encouraging illegal immigration to the state by offering driver's licenses to people in the country illegally. It undermines immigration law and I suspect if put to a vote, most Californians would be against it. This driver's license movement has very little to do with making our streets safer – this is really about putting an extremely significant document into the hands of illegal aliens so that they can be more deeply embedded into our society.

MORE: California's original proposed license plan threatened national security.