Letters page

Welcome to the OFIR Letters and Op-Eds section.  Here you can read Letters to the Editor and Op-Eds that have been published in various newspapers and news sources.

Letter author:
David Olen Cross
Letter publisher:
democratherald.com
Date of letter:
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Letter body:

Oregon’s voters during the 2014 General Election will have a chance to vote on Senate Bill 833 that will appear before them as Ballot Measure 88.

The passage of Ballot Measure 88 would require the Oregon DMV to grant to persons “who cannot prove legal presence in the United States” a special state issued identification called a driver’s card.

In reaction to the state driver cards’ legislation, sheriffs across the state have stepped forward to oppose the ballot measure.

The Sheriff’s of Oregon Political Action Committee, representing the political and public safety concerns of state’s 36 county sheriffs, has come out in opposition to the legislation with the following statement: “The Sheriffs of Oregon support the citizens veto referendum No. 301 to overturn SB 833. We urge a NO vote.”

Tom Bergin, Clatsop County Sheriff, past President of the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association, made these statements on the driver cards’ legislation: “It is wrong to provide special driver’s licenses to people who cannot prove legal presence in the United States. For Oregon to do so, will only enhance the ability for criminal behavior, thus creating a larger risk to our citizens’ public safety. The Sheriffs of Oregon urge you to oppose this measure.”

Tim Mueller, former Linn County Sheriff, expressed these thoughts on driver cards: “Giving a person a driver’s license who is in this country illegally is flat out irresponsible and does nothing to protect the citizens of this state.”

Oregon voters should heed the wisdom of Oregon’s sheriffs, who have joined together with the citizens from Protect Oregon Driver Licenses to oppose driver cards for those “who cannot prove legal presence in the U.S.” and vote “No” on Ballot Measure 88.

 

Letter author:
C. H. McMillan III
Letter publisher:
Herald and News
Date of letter:
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Letter body:

The Citizen petition drive that forced Measure 88 to the ballot this November, temporarily saved legislators, who drafted this bill and voted to enact it, along with our Governor who signed it, from committing felonies described below:

Section 274 FELONIES

Immigration & Naturalization Act 274A(a)(1)(A): [condensed]

A person (including a group, business, organization, or local government) commits federal felony when they:

Assist aliens s/he reasonably suspects lack authorization, or illegally in the U.S., by transporting, sheltering or assisting them.

Knowingly assist illegal aliens due to personal convictions.

Encouraging and Harboring Illegal Aliens: It violates law to conceal, harbor or shield from detection in any place, any building or means of transportation, any alien in the United States in violation of law. Harboring is conduct that substantially facilitates an alien to remain in the U.S. illegally.

Penalty for felony harboring: fine and imprisonment up to five years; if bodily injury or jeopardy to life results, up to twenty years; if a death occurs, penalty can be life.

Don't let misplaced compassion make you an accessory to this unlawful legislation. Oregon as sanctuary for undocumented aliens by granting driving privileges isn't in the best interest of legal residents. It¡¦s inevitable that crimes like vehicular assault/homicide, drug running, human trafficking, welfare abuse, voter fraud and gang violence will all increase not things Oregonians should welcome or encourage.

Please vote no on Measure 88!
 

Letter author:
Lyneil Vandermolen
Letter publisher:
The Bulletin
Date of letter:
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Letter body:

Although Gov. John Kitzhaber claims that Measure 88 will promote insured driving among people who can’t prove they’re legally in the country, the lax requirements and glaring omissions of the bill seem tailored to accommodate illegal immigration in the guise of safety. It neither guarantees insured driving nor prevents the driver card from being used as identification.

For instance, Kitzhaber says Measure 88 “requires” applicants to get insurance, but David House, of DMV Public Affairs, contends bluntly: Liability insurance is not a requirement for driving privileges … including the proposed driver card that is under SB 833.

The devil is in the details. Applicants may get a card without buying insurance by testing in someone else’s insured car, (as do most 16-year-olds). The state can’t know if the applicant will drive an insured car afterward or cancel a policy if he has one.

State Rep. Kim Thatcher recalls that enthusiasts of driver permits for illegal immigrants warned against ending their driving privilege because they assumed it would increase uninsured driving. However, they accidentally proved their opposition’s point by initiating periodic ODOT reviews. The rate of uninsured accidents stayed the same between 2007, (the last year of driving privileges) and 2013.

This suggests the number of uninsured drivers stayed the same too. New Mexico noticed that its non-compliance rate rose slightly to 24 percent after it began issuing licenses to illegal aliens in 2003. It rose to 26 percent, the second highest in the nation, between 2004 and 2009. Tennessee also tried and canceled such permits.

If the state meant to ensure mandatory collision policies why did they allow such a flaw in SB 833? Even the official Yes on 88 flier doesn’t mention an insurance requirement. That hasn’t stopped various Measure 88 proponents from claiming new permitees must comply, but applicants already know that obeying the law is optional.

Another flaw in the driver card is its potential as identification. The bill lists several acceptable cases for ID but prohibits almost nothing, a loophole that could endanger the public now that Transportation Safety Administration’s spokesperson, Nico Melendez, said the TSA will accept the card as ID for air travel.

The federal REAL ID Act also requires a driver’s license “equivalent” to look different from the original and warn that it cannot be used for federal ID. Instead, the new card is nearly identical to our driver’s license except for the word “card” on a purple stripe instead of the word “license” on a blue stripe. It carries no warning, because the Legislature voted to ignore the federal Real ID Act in 2009.

The ID problem started even before the original bill passed the Legislature, when an ACLU affiliated lawyer named David Chaimov submitted his interpretation to the Secretary of State’s office about the allegedly narrow uses of the card without highlighting its potential use as identification. Ellen Rosenblum added the ACLU report to her formal summary.

The driver card is exploitable as designed and defined, and not only against unwitting bureaucrats and cashiers. Given that Mohammed Atta entered the U.S. legally and used his valid driver’s license to commit a 911 hijacking, would we assure the misuse of a nearly identical version of our ID granted for illegal presence? Will the duplicity, vague restrictions, and its acceptance by the TSA create more dangerous results than a bureaucratic mess?

Given its flaws, the card seems to be an attempt to protect the status quo instead of to guard the integrity of our driver’s license/ID. The state seems to be responding to pressure from unionized state bureaus that depend on a growing client base, coupled with demands from employers and ethnic organizers. The welfare of relatively quiet citizens, by contrast, must seem easier to ignore.

In November voters must decide if the illusion of safer law-breaking contrived by various special interests is an acceptable excuse for the Oregon driver card. Voting no on Measure 88 draws a line in the sand.

— Lyneil Vandermolen is a board member of Oregonians for Immigration Reform. She lives in Powell Butte.

Letter author:
Cliff Girod
Letter publisher:
Statesman Journal
Date of letter:
Monday, October 20, 2014
Letter body:

In the last legislative session, our legislators and governor passed a law (Senate Bill 833) that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain "driver cards" for four years.

Individuals would not have to be here legally in order to obtain a driver card and be able to drive legally in Oregon. The driver card applications would be available after Measure 88 passes.

However, last summer, a group of Oregon citizens (Oregonians for Immigration Reform and Protect Oregon Driver Licenses) were able to collect the signatures of almost 60,000 registered Oregon voters, which then stopped SB 833.

Thus, Oregon registered voters will now have an opportunity to annul the recent action of the legislators and governor and give registered Oregon voters an opportunity to vote "no" on Measure 88 in the November election.

Thank you, Sheriffs of Oregon political action committee, for your recent article urging voters to oppose Measure 88, which would allow people to drive and obtain insurance illegally. Their stand that offering the privilege to people who are breaking the law doesn't make sense to them.

I agree and feel we should support the people hired to protect our laws.

 

Letter author:
Jean Groce
Letter publisher:
Catholic Sentinel
Date of letter:
Monday, October 20, 2014
Letter body:

Your articles about measure 88 are not the views of many Catholics. You are misleading your readers.

Immigrants are welcome and are allowed to apply for an Oregon Driver License. Illegal aliens are not. We are a nation of laws. Lawbreakers should be punished, not rewarded. Those who violate our laws don’t deserve special favors. Even Jesus evicted the evildoers from the temple.

Vote NO on measure 88. This measure is funded by large organizations that want to take advantage of cheap laborers who work for low wages.

My 12 younger siblings and I worked all summer on the farm. All 13 of us are still alive. Our children and grandchildren now, are having a tough time finding jobs. In the 1970s, I picked berries and took my children with me to teach them how to work. Since then Oregon has forbidden young children from fieldwork.

As a lifetime 83-year Catholic, I vote no on measure 88.

Letter author:
Richard LaMountain
Letter publisher:
Catholic Sentinel
Date of letter:
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Letter body:

How should Catholics vote on Measure 88, which would create driver cards for illegal immigrants?

Today in Oregon, more than 200,000 U.S. citizens and legal residents are jobless or “involuntary part-time workers.”

Yet, concurrently, 120,000 illegal immigrants may hold Oregon jobs. Most of these are in fields like food services, construction, and building maintenance -- jobs occupied disproportionately by young, minority and low-skilled Oregonians. Driver cards would better enable illegal immigrants to take and keep those jobs.

Does this matter? Yes. A nation is a common people, an extended family -- in founder John Jay’s words, a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties.” It is natural, moral -- and Christian -- to favor that fellow people, that family, first and foremost over others.

Catholics should vote no on 88. By doing so, they’ll protect Oregon jobs for the fellow Americans who have the greatest claim to our Christian compassion.
 

Letter author:
Elizabeth Van Staaveren
Letter publisher:
Portland Tribune
Date of letter:
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Letter body:
There is clear evidence that states giving driver’s licenses to unauthorized immigrants attract more unauthorized immigrants. This is an important reason to vote “no” on state Ballot Measure 88. 
 
This measure on the ballot next month gives voters the right to decide whether Oregon Senate Bill 833, passed by the state Legislature in April 2013, granting official driving privileges and identification to unauthorized immigrants, should go into effect. A majority “no” votes will overturn SB 833. 
 
Here is some data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s Legislation Update from April 2013: 
 
• During the 10 weeks after Arizona’s immigration enforcement bill (SB 1070) became law, the number of licenses issued to foreign nationals in three states (Washington, New Mexico, and Utah) that grant driver’s licenses to unauthorized immigrants rose by 60 percent from the annual average for the previous year. 
 
• In Washington state, the FBI was tipped that people from across the country were coming to the state because of its license law. In New Mexico between August 2010 and April 2011, investigators found that 37 percent of the 16,000 foreign national requests for driver’s license appointments came from out of state, most from Arizona, Georgia and Texas. Conversely, states that refuse to grant benefits or privileges to unauthorized immigrants see a dramatic decrease in illegal immigration. For example, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimated that Arizona’s unauthorized immigrant population grew from 330,000 in 2000 to 560,000 by 2008, one of the fastest rates nationally. After Arizona’s SB 1070 passed, however, Arizona’s unauthorized immigrant population dropped by 18 percent from 2008 to 2009. 
 
• After Prince William County in Virginia instituted a policy of cooperation with Homeland Security, its unauthorized immigrant population decreased significantly in just two years, resulting in a reduction in violent crime. 
 
Besides the inevitability of attracting larger numbers of unauthorized immigrants, there are additional problems with giving official driving cards and privileges to unauthorized immigrants. 
 
Citizenship is meaningless if unauthorized immigrants are allowed to enter and remain in this country encouraged and unchallenged. SB 833 accommodates and legitimizes unauthorized immigrants, thus downgrading the value of U.S. citizenship and saying to the world: it doesn’t matter how many people come to the U.S. and settle here or whether they respect this country’s laws or not. 
 
A fact that should be more widely understood: more than 100 million people worldwide dream of a life in the United States and would come here if they could. The United States is the No. 1 desired destination for potential migrants. Can we admit all of them? Of course not. How then is it decided who’ll be the lucky ones? 
 
At present, the law of the jungle prevails. Those who succeed in sneaking into the country illegally get to stay, plus those who come legally but don’t go home when their visas expire. This situation puts the U.S. on a disastrous path to overpopulation and chaos. Extending driver’s licenses to unauthorized immigrants will only expedite the disaster. 
 
It was very irresponsible of Gov. John Kitzhaber to yield to the pleas and demands of unauthorized immigrant advocates and actually sponsor a group of them to fashion SB 833 behind closed doors without allowing any input from citizens who represent the public interest. It was not only irresponsible, but dangerous. Numerous citizens already have been killed or maimed in road crashes caused by unauthorized immigrants. 
 
Furthermore, the deadly drug trade flourishes in Oregon because unauthorized immigrants are either directly involved themselves or can be forced by drug lords to aid them. Even more formidable are the international terrorists who take advantage of weak state driver’s license laws to embed themselves into a community and hide their massively crippling plans. 
 
Legislators must learn to say no to the demands of unauthorized immigrants; otherwise the safety and sovereignty of this country will be lost. 
 
Wages already are depressed because of the volume of illegal immigration. Our less-educated citizens have to compete for jobs against unauthorized immigrants who will work for a pittance and not dare to protest working conditions to an employer. Citizens are losing out and many remain unemployed for long periods, a devastating situation for them, while they watch unauthorized immigrants working at every construction site, in landscaping, agriculture, hotels, restaurants and various other places. 
 
Voters should think carefully and vote “no” on Measure 88. Voters should tell legislators that instead of devising benefits for unauthorized immigrants, they should make E-Verify mandatory for all employers in Oregon. This will open up jobs for citizens, motivate unauthorized immigrants to leave and discourage others from attempting illegal entry. 
 
Elizabeth Van Staaveren of McMinnville is a long-time member of Oregonians for Immigration Reform. She previously lived in the Washington D.C., area, where she was employed by the U.S. Department of Labor. 
 
Letter author:
Robert Bennett
Letter publisher:
Mail Tribune
Date of letter:
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Letter body:

To drive down the wages of hardworking Oregonians, the Democratic controlled Legislature passed Senate Bill 833 in October of 2013 to issue driver cards to illegal aliens. Governor Kitzhaber gleefully signed the bill and it was scheduled to take effect in 2014.

But Oregonians For Immigration Reform (OFIR) launched a campaign to save the Oregon worker. They sponsored a ballot initiative, Ballot Measure 88. It will appear on the ballot in November. A NO vote on the measure strikes down this odious law. Implementation has been put on hold until a decision has been rendered by the voters.

To find out more about the original legislation or the ballot measure, access the OFIR website at: www.oregonir.org/. This is an opportunity for rank-and-file citizen to stand up for the Oregon worker and restore sanity to both the workplace and the streets and highways of Oregon.

 

Letter author:
Endorsements staff
Letter publisher:
Daily Courier
Date of letter:
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Letter body:

Choosing to break the law or ignore the law in the name of safety may make sense under certain circumstances. Ballot Measure 88 is not among those rare circumstances.

The measure would direct the Oregon DMV to issue driver's licenses to people even if they are unable to show they are legal residents of the United States. It is on the ballot because a bill that would have done this was approved by the Oregon Senate in 2013. Even before the House of Representatives could take action on the bill, however, a referendum petition effort quickly gathered the necessary signatures to send the issue to the ballot.

Supporters of the measure contend this is a safety issue, and that immigrants in the country illegally will drive more safely if they have the opportunity to get a driver's license. People in the country illegally are going to drive anyway, supporters argue, so we might as well do our best to protect everyone else on the road.

While there may be something to this argument, it's not good enough to have voters give an official stamp of approval to those who have broken the law by entering the United States illegally.

Furthermore, the bill's supporters in the Legislature knew very well that rank-and-file voters would not stand for this. Once opponents of Senate Bill 833 gathered enough signatures to send the proposal to the ballot, supporters tried to change the wording of the ballot title so that it included no reference to illegal immigrants. They tried to have the title read, "Establishes limited purpose, duration driver card for individuals who prove Oregon residency, meeting driving requirements." Fortunately, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld the original ballot title wording, so that when you receive your ballot later this month, Measure 88 will read, "Provides Oregon resident driver card without requiring proof of legal presence in the United States."

Straightforward, easy to understand. That's the way ballot measures should be.

People without licenses drive all the time, and a majority of them are not illegal immigrants — they lost their licenses due to multiple drunken driving convictions or other road-related crimes such as reckless driving. But the answer is not to write new laws that create a way around existing laws. The answer is to adequately enforce the laws that are already on the books.
 

Vote no on Measure 88.
 

Letter author:
Charles Boyd
Letter publisher:
The Bulletin
Date of letter:
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Letter body:

Those who advocate giving driver cards to individuals who live in Oregon illegally ignore the broader issues associated with illegal immigration.

The U.S. population is 317 million and will increase to over 400 million by 2050. Seventy percent of the increase will be due to both legal and illegal immigration, according to Support U.S. Population Stabilization. We allow about a million individuals to come here legally each year. The environmental impact of this rapidly increasing population is significant.

The U.S. is already experiencing water shortages in various parts of the country. California, Arizona and Nevada are rationing water in many areas, and the water in the great Ogallala Aquifer, important to agriculture in the Midwest, is being “mined.” We are at risk of degrading the environment in our constant quest for more energy to keep up with the growing population. Witness the continuing controversy over fracking and the rapid spread of windmill generators in scenic environments. This is to say nothing of concerns about terrorists and drug cartels who wish to cross our porous borders.

There are many in the world who need help, but we cannot take them all in. It is estimated that about 70,000 will have entered illegally this year from Central America alone. The U.S. cannot continue to be a safety valve for the population excesses of other countries. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to provide care for the immigrants, including payment for legal fees to guarantee due process.

The backlog of cases is so great that many are released into society with the hope that they will show up for a hearing. Most will probably be allowed to stay, which will draw thousands more next year.

The magnet that draws many of them is the promise of amnesty provided by the immigration bill passed by the Senate and the 2012 Obama presidential administrative amnesty action taken for young illegals already in the U.S. Ronald Regan supported amnesty for millions in 1986, but promised border security never materialized, and millions more have crossed the border illegally, or overstayed their visas. Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley and President Obama champion the middle class but ignore the fact that more tax money to help immigrants places additional burdens on that middle class. We have thousands of homeless and unemployed citizens who could use that money.

We cannot continue to enable the millions who break into our country illegally. It weakens our rule of law and demeans the meaning of citizenship. Pew Research estimates there are over 160,000 individuals living in the state of Oregon illegally. This November, Oregon citizens will have an opportunity to vote whether illegal residents should be issued a driver card. This concept has been pushed by Gov. John Kitzhaber and many Democrats in the Legislature. Those who are in this country illegally should be denied this privilege as it facilitates their ability to take jobs, providing unnecessary competition for over 100,000 Oregon citizens who are unemployed. The flood of immigrants also results in lower wages and places stress on medical facilities and schools, which may already be overcrowded. Providing driver cards does not guarantee additional safety on the road and only serves to attract more illegal immigrants to the state.

If you were in the U.S. illegally, which states would you move to, those that would provide you a driver card, or those states that support the rule of law?

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