Editorial: Initiative process gives voters control on illegal-immigrant driver’s cards

Letter date: 
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Letter publisher: 
The Bulletin
Letter body: 

Oregon voters who think illegal immigrants should not get driver’s cards will have the chance to overrule their legislators next year. We hope they’ll do just that.

The opportunity comes from Oregon’s initiative process.

The Legislature passed Senate Bill 833 earlier this year, allowing those in the state illegally to get driver’s cards. It was scheduled to go into effect in January.

But last week, Secretary of State Kate Brown announced that opponents had collected enough signatures to put Referendum No. 301 on the November 2014 ballot. If the majority of voters vote no, SB 833 will be overturned. In the meantime, its provisions are on hold.

To get a driver’s card under SB 833, a person must meet all the requirements for a driver’s license except proof of legal residency. The cards are supposed to carry a distinguishing label to prevent their use to try to prove a person is in the nation legally.

Advocates of the law say it will encourage illegal residents to learn the rules of the road, get insurance and drive legally, thereby helping them get to and from work and participate fully in the economy.

Unfortunately, granting the driver’s cards will also further confuse the issue of legal and illegal residence. Depending on how prominently the cards declare their difference from regular licenses, they could be used inappropriately.

The state should not be in the business of creating loopholes for those who break the law by being in the nation illegally. Solving the immigration issue is a federal responsibility and shouldn’t be handled piecemeal by the states.

Oregon’s initiative law has sometimes created governing challenges, as demonstrated by the state’s complex tax structure. But whatever the outcome of the vote in this case, it’s a good use of the initiative process. It gives voters a check on their elected representatives and the chance to exercise some direct democracy.