Thank you for "making" our argument
The Oregonian's August 23, 2014 Guest Opinion, 'Oregonians should support driver card measure' by Juan Carlos Valle clearly spelled out every reason Oregonians should not support the ballot measure and Vote NO on Ballot Measure 88.
Take a moment to read some of the 130+ comments and you'll discover that Mr. Valle didn't make a very convincing case.
Let me address just a few of the key points of the piece:
"Driving to work in order to feed your family is a privilege" - by reading through the comments, one quickly realizes that Oregonians don't think people who pick and choose which of our laws to obey and which to break, should be given even more privileges - like a driver card.
"We risk our lives by driving to a place of employment" - again, Mr. Valle points out that illegal aliens choose to break two laws at the same time. It's against the law for those illegally in our country to also work in our country and it is illegal for them to drive to those jobs, or anywhere else. Yet, they do both.
"...(SB 833) gave hope to hundreds of individuals across Oregon" - I think this must be a typo because thousands will likely apply for driver cards if Ballot Measure 88 is not defeated.
"...this measure could generate revenue of $5.3 million in 2013-15 and $2.7 million in 2015-17 to the state DMV" - If only hundreds are applying, as Mr. Valle indicates, how will the DMV generate millions of dollars? Should our laws be for sale to the highest revenue generator?
"We cannot continue to deny driver licenses to individuals who might be here without proper documentation" - Yes, we can. Vote NO on Ballot Measure 88. Vote NO in November!
A few sidenotes:
1.) New Mexico, under extreme pressure from special interest groups (just like here in Oregon) and suffering with one of the highest uninsured driver rates in the country, in 2003 passed a law granting driver licenses to illegal aliens. Eleven years and 80,000 driver licenses to illegal aliens later, they still suffer with one of the highest uninsured driver rates in the country. The argument that insurance will now be purchased is the straw man for putting a state issued ID in the hands of people in our country illegally.
2.) Find out who is really behind the driver card bill. Since when has the SEIU, ACLU, Oregon Association of Nurseries and others been so concerned about your public safety? Only when their illegal workforce is inconvenienced with not being able to get a driver card.
