Letters page
President Barack Obama's deferred deportation order on some 1.7 million undocumented foreign nationals (illegal aliens) between the ages of 16 and 30, in conjunction with issuing them Social Security numbers and work permits, shows a clear view of a President in complete willful disregard for America's 13.4 million unemployed citizens; 8.3 percent of the civilian labor force.
Oregon's unemployment numbers for July were 177,801; a seasonally adjusted 8.7 percent.
Harney County's 378 unemployed in July equated to 13.1 percent of the county's work force.
An analysis done by the Employment Policy Institute indicated that Oregon in July ranked third in the nation with teen unemployment for ages 16 to 24 at 30 percent.
What President Obama's deferred deportation order means to Oregon's unemployed is up to 16,600 illegal aliens will be permitted to enter the state's work force during the worst recession since the Great Depression.
The addition of 16,600 illegal aliens into the state's civilian labor force could increase unemployment in Oregon by 9.3 percent.
The state's elected officials like Governor John Kitzhaber should not cooperate with the Obama administration by allowing thousands of illegal aliens to enter the state's workforce. Governor Kitzhaber can put a stop to many of these illegal aliens working in the state by not changing state law that currently requires legal presence in the country to obtain an Oregon driver's license. Kitzhaber should know that Obama's deferred deportation order doesn't constitute legal presence for those persons illegally in the country.
Oregon's 177,801 unemployed legal U.S. citizens should contact President Obama in the White House and communicate to the President unemployed Americans should never have to compete for scarce jobs with illegal aliens no matter what age demographic they represent.
David Olen Cross of Salem (docfnc@yahoo.com) writes on the subjects of immigration and foreign national crime.
“Jobs! Jobs! Lots of jobs!”
That’s what we heard repeatedly from the Republican National Convention. We’ll hear the same thing from the Democrats at their convention.
It’s nothing but talk. If the candidates were serious about protecting American jobs they would be calling for three actions:
First, dramatically reduce the more than 1 million foreign work visas the government continues to hand out each year despite massive U.S. unemployment.
Next, require mandatory use of the federal E-Verify system for all employers to stop illegal immigrants from taking American jobs.
Third, put the brakes on “free trade” agreements that have shipped untold numbers of American jobs overseas.
But you’ll hear none of that from either mainstream party because of the backlash such talk would trigger from corporate campaign contributors.
In other words, nothing’s likely to change on the jobs front after November.
President Barack Obama’s deferred deportation order on some 1.7 million undocumented foreign nationals (illegal aliens) between the ages of 16 and 30, in conjunction with issuing them Social Security numbers, shows a clear view of a president in complete willful disregard for America’s 13.4 million unemployed citizens; 8.3 percent of the civilian labor force.
Oregon’s unemployment numbers for July were 180,000; a seasonally adjusted 8.7 percent. Linn County’s 6,100 unemployed in July equated to 11 percent of the county’s work force. An analysis done by the Employment Policy Institute indicated that Oregon in July ranked third in the nation with teen unemployment at 30 percent.
What President Obama’s deferred deportation order means to Oregon’s unemployed is up to 16,600 illegal aliens will be permitted to enter the state’s work force during the worst recession since the Great Depression.
The addition of 16,600 illegal aliens into the state’s civilian labor force could increase unemployment in Oregon by 9.3 percent.
The state’s elected officials like Gov. John Kitzhaber should not cooperate with the Obama administration by allowing thousands of illegal aliens to enter the state’s work force. Governor Kitzhaber can put a stop to many of these illegal aliens working in the state by not changing state law that currently requires legal presence in the country to obtain an Oregon driver’s license. Kitzhaber should know that Obama’s deferred deportation order doesn’t constitute legal presence for those persons illegally in the country.
Oregon’s 180,000 unemployed legal U.S. citizens should contact President Obama in the White House and communicate to the president that unemployed Americans should never have to compete for scarce jobs with illegal aliens no matter what age demographic they represent.
How many of our ancestors came to this country and worked hard to become legal citizens?
Now the Obama administration wants to give illegal aliens work permits. Do they not know, or is it they don’t care about their own people? Ones who can’t find jobs. Oh, yes, I know there are a lot of people who would rather live on welfare then work. What about the ones who want to work but can’t find a job?
But that is OK. Let’s give the illegal aliens work permits, driver’s licenses, how about a new car. Oh, yes, a new home also.
I do not think so!
The Obama administration needs to take care of their own first. Let’s not forget our veterans!
The Aug. 16 poll question asked, “What should happen to adult children of illegal immigrants that were brought to the U.S. as minors?”
Answer: Send them back with their parents to their country of origin. The parents knew that if they crossed the border with the kids they were home free since liberals would recognize the “gold mine” of potential votes.
It’s pathetic that the Democratic party and President Barack Obama would put pandering, scamming and the hijacking of our democracy above respect for the rule of law and order.
How conceited and arrogant can these people be to think they have a right to enter and spit in the face of another sovereign nation, its people and rule of law?
At this year’s May Day rally, a letter from Gov. John Kitzhaber was read to the crowd announcing he had convened a work group to draft changes in Oregon’s driver licensing requirements.
He said that driver’s licenses for illegal aliens need to be restored so those Oregonians could drive back and forth to their jobs.
With 8.5 percent unemployment, his disregard for Oregon’s legal residents struggling to find a job is insulting.
That the governor would even contemplate the idea that illegal aliens should be provided with driver’s licenses at all should alarm every law-abiding citizen. Worse yet, the most important document a criminal alien can possess is a valid U.S. driver’s license. It’s their passport to the Interstate 5 corridor, allowing them to traffic meth, cocaine, heroin, even humans.
The Oregon Legislature resoundingly passed a law in 2008 requiring only legal residents be issued Oregon driver’s licenses. The Governor’s Driver License Task Force pushes an agenda of finding loopholes in Oregon’s driver licensing requirements.
Citizens should be outraged that the governor’s task force is toiling secretly and stonewalling constituents’ inquiries with the goal of helping illegal aliens retake the foothold they had before the secure driver’s license bill was passed.
Cynthia Kendoll
Salem
Gov. John Kitzhaber wants changes in Oregon’s driver’s license laws to enable more “people to come out of the shadows and contribute to our state’s economic recovery."
A work group is meeting to come up with a proposal that Kitzhaber hopes public safety officials will support.
For now, the work group is behind closed doors, as Salem’s Statesman Journal reported. But the governor’s statements suggest the group is considering allowing people to get a form of an Oregon driver’s license without being able to prove they have a right to be here.
Bad idea. That is not to say there are no problems.
“Too many Oregonians are traveling from home to work, or school, or church, in risk of violating the law," Kitzhaber wrote in a May letter to an immigration rally. “They are forced to choose between this risk and providing for their families."
Of course, another choice they made —unless they are too young — is to be in Oregon illegally. There are other issues that can clearly be bad for Oregonians.
No driver’s license means no insurance. No driver’s license likely means less familiarity with the rules of the road. No driver’s license also can make it much more difficult for law enforcement to swiftly determine a person’s identity.
The federal government cracked down on the identification needed to get on a plane or visit a federal office building after 9/11. The 9/11 Commission report spelled out why.
“For terrorists, travel documents are weapons," the report said. “All but one of the hijackers acquired some form of U.S. identification document, some by fraud. Acquisition of these forms of identification would have assisted them in boarding commercial flights, renting cars, and other necessary activities."
Federal law does allow states to issue other IDs that are clearly marked as not legal for use for federal purposes. Washington and New Mexico allow a form of driver’s licenses without proof of legal presence. Utah has driving privilege cards.
That doesn’t mean Oregon also needs to join in and hand out benefits to those in the state illegally.
The root problem is the nation’s failure to support comprehensive immigration reform. Remember in 2007 when that pair of unlikely allies — President Bush and Sen. Ted Kennedy — became allies on immigration reform? Their proposal had the right components. Strict enforcement of laws against hiring illegals, a “guest worker" program and a program by which people who are living in the United States could become legal.
But failure of Congress to enact immigration reform is no excuse for Oregon to create loopholes for people breaking the law.
We are not under a delusion that strict driver’s license requirements make many illegal aliens pack up and leave. It’s also not a certainty that Oregon becomes safer by approving licenses for people who are here illegally.
Police have been in the news this week, responding to a mass shooting in Wisconsin and being the fatal victim of an unresolved crash in Oregon.
We are grateful for police officers’ courage, dedication and skills. They go to work each day not knowing what they will encounter, cognizant that the day could switch from mundane to dangerous in an instant. They must be trained to deal with whatever the day brings; their families have to live with that awareness as well.
Nationally, Americans were reminded of those dangers in the swift police response to the Sikh temple shooting, in which one officer was seriously wounded; a fellow officer shot the assailant from 75 yards away.
Locally, that reminder came in this week’s announcement that Marion County officials still are pursuing justice in the 2007 death of Deputy Kelly Fredinburg. He was killed in a head-on crash on Highway 99E near Gervais while responding to an emergency call. The other driver, Alfredo De Jesus Ascencio, has been indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide but is believed to be in Mexico. His cousin, who was a passenger in his car, also was killed.
County officials have been unable to extradite De Jesus Ascencio but hope he will be caught and prosecuted in Mexico for the fatal crash.
“We wanted prosecution here because this is an Oregon case. It happened in our community; Kelly Fredinburg was part of our community; it was kind of a personal thing,” Deputy District Attorney Don Abar said. “This came to the point where it’s just not going to happen.”
Working with law enforcement officials, the Fredinburg family established a reward fund for information that will lead to De Jesus Ascencio’s apprehension. In the future, the fund will help law enforcement pursue suspects in other line-of-duty police injury or death cases.
The Marion County sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices deserve thanks for continuing to pursue justice in this case. Deputy Kelly Fredinburg will not be forgotten.
To donate
Donations to the Oregon Officer Reward Fund can be made at www.oorf.info or at any US Bank branch.
The Aug. 1 article, “New forms of ID?” about the state considering alternatives to driver identification implies that the states giving driving privileges to illegal aliens are in the vanguard of a new movement.
Actually, they are laggards in a well-established trend to make state driver licenses more secure by requiring proof of citizenship.
Of our 50 states, three accommodate illegal aliens with driver privileges or licenses. Forty-seven do not.
Of the three, New Mexico’s Gov. Susana Martinez was elected while promising to end issuance of driver licenses to illegal aliens. The New Mexico House passed a bill to that effect in February but the Senate refused to take up the bill. Martinez promises to continue pushing the issue as long as she is governor.
In Utah there is also strong support for ending driver licensing of illegal aliens; the battle there is only paused between legislative sessions.
Tennessee was mentioned as formerly issuing licenses to illegal aliens. The reason they stopped was not stated. It reportedly was because they found large numbers of illegal aliens coming to the state using fake residency papers and sometimes bribing state workers to get the cards.
Regarding driver's licenses for illegals, I know of no civilized country that does not issue driver's licenses. I know of no such license that is not recognized for use in the USA. Illegal aliens, had they ever driven legally in the countries from whence they came, would be in possession of valid licenses from that country. They would not need licenses from the USA.
The only reason for developing a system, in the USA, through which licenses can be issued to those illegally in this country is to provide illegals with some legal means of identifying themselves. That often leads to the commission of felonies in the form of fraud.
The insistence that illegals be issued valid licenses could be considered, at least in some sense, an effort to shield illegals from detection. Under Title 8, USC, Section 1324, shielding illegals from detection is a felony. No place in that law is the governor of a state or anyone else insulated from Title 8 of the United States Code. Governor Kitzhaber is not an exception.
