Measure 88 isn’t a safety issue

Those of us who worked to refer Oregon’s illegal immigrant driver’s card bill, Senate Bill 833, to the voters (Measure 88 on the Nov. 4 ballot) expect the name-calling, unfounded accusations and questionable conclusions proffered by Juan Carlos Valle in his Aug. 18 column (“Road safety is paramount in debate on driver’s cards”).

But are we “bigots” because we want to see our laws enforced?

Nobody I know on our side ever made “unfortunate, misguided and inaccurate portrayals of residents as criminals and lawbreakers.” “Residents” are not in violation of U.S. immigration laws.

Valle’s central themes are that the purpose of the bill is “road safety” and illegal immigrants should have the same privileges as legal residents.

The safety argument doesn’t wash; if it were about safety the Legislature and the governor wouldn’t have seen the need to craft the bill largely in secret and the Democrats wouldn’t have mounted a cynical, failed attempt to confuse voters by altering the ballot title.

The real purposes of the bill were to appease vocal supporters of illegal immigrants and to help employers who hire them.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles found “no major impact on the rate of unlicensed and uninsured drivers” between the periods when illegal immigrants couldn’t obtain driver’s licenses and periods when they could. Furthermore, if it were about safety, the Oregon sheriffs’ PAC wouldn’t have come out against the measure.

It’s not about safety, it’s about respecting the law. Vote “no” on Measure 88.