driver's license

Is our Legislature really on top of the situation?

According to a recent article in the Oregonian, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has requested additional funding to help fight the cartels in Oregon. The request has gotten new interest in the Legislature because of a recent 5 part series of articles in the Oregonian about the cartel presence in Oregon. 

Last fall, I personally invited every Sheriff in the state to attend National Sheriff's Border School in El Paso, Texas with me.  Only two Oregon law enforcement officers attended.  Sheriff Ken Matlack of Morrow County and Tim Moore, Multnomah County Under-sheriff.  We learned things that were extremely alarming and very disturbing even for the lawmen.  Above all, we learned that what happens on the border doesn't stay on the border!  It was a chilling experience filling me with a sense of responsibility to inform our lawmakers and the public. 

I brought home with me a frightening documentary about the malignant spread of cartels into Oregon and across the country. I personally met with the producer who imbedded himself in a brutal Mexican drug cartel.

Upon my return, I took the documentary to Chris Gibson, HIDTA Director, for his input.  He told me he thought the film would be of great value to the public.  I reserved the Salem Public Library and put up posters all over town.  I printed invitations that I hand delivered to every Legislator with an email follow up invitation.  Not a single Legislator attended the presentation...although about 125 citizens did and they were shocked!  They asked why no Legislators attended.

Over the next month OFIR Board members visited many Legislators and explained what is happening with the invasion of drug cartels. We provided alarming maps showing Salem, OR, our Capitol city, on one of the main cartel routes. The majority of them seemed uninterested in our information.

Because the Legislature had opened the session, I decided to bring the documentary to them.  I showed the film two separate days at the Capitol Building.   Again, personal invitations, emails and phone calls were made and not a single Legislator attended the viewing, although many citizens did. 

Oregon is in serious trouble.  Cartels have established themselves and are conducting business every single day in our state. Yet, our Legislature seems completely clueless...or are they?

In spite of our continued correspondence, personal visits and research, in its infinite wisdom the Oregon Legislature fast tracked SB 833, giving driver privilege cards to illegal aliens.  The unintended consequences were never addressed and were ignored when OFIR pointed them out.  Never discussed publicly by Legislators was that one of the most prized possessions of a cartel operative is a STATE ISSUED ID and that's exactly what we will be giving them. 

Does anyone think this won't attract even more illegal alien criminals into our state, as well?

Protect Oregon Driver Licenses has filed a referendum to overturn SB 833.  Learn more about driver privilege cards for illegal aliens.

Does it take a series of articles in the Oregonian to capture the attention of the Legislature?  It shouldn't.  Legislators have had this information, courtesy of OFIR, for over 8 months now.  Read more about Is our Legislature really on top of the situation?

Oregon attorney general pushes Legislature for more drug investigators

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is pushing for last-minute funding to double her agency's ability to investigate drug trafficking as the Legislature moves toward adjournment.

Rosenblum's request is getting a second look in the wake of The Oregonian's five-part series this week on rampant drug trafficking in Oregon, fueled by Mexican cartels. The series detailed drug trafficking organizations in nearly every corner of the state.

Read the full article at OregonLive.com. Read more about Oregon attorney general pushes Legislature for more drug investigators

Florida governor vetoes 'Dream Act' driver's license bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 5 (UPI) -- The governor of Florida has vetoed a "well-intentioned" bill that would have allowed children of undocumented immigrants to get temporary drivers' licenses.

The "Dream Act Driver License" bill had passed through both chambers of the Legislature with only two dissenting votes, The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times reported Tuesday.

The bill used as its foundation a 2012 policy of the Obama administration that suspended for two years deportation actions against children illegally brought to the United States by their parents.

Gov. Rick Scott said lawmakers were "well-intentioned" in approving the measure, but that "it should not have been done by relying on a federal government policy adopted without legal basis."

Scott said the Obama policy did not have the force of law, noting that Florida law already allows non-citizens with federal work permits to get temporary drivers licenses.

Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, called the governor's veto "simply unconscionable," adding that Scott had "missed an opportunity."

Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte, a former Florida state legislator, said the lack of citizenship does not prevent anyone from practicing any profession regulated by the state.

"Somebody in Florida who is not yet a citizen can get a doctor's license but not a driver's license," he said. "How absurd can we be?" Read more about Florida governor vetoes 'Dream Act' driver's license bill

Is your city or town on the honor list? Get in the game today!

Alert date: 
June 23, 2013
Alert body: 

If your city is not on the honor list, give us a call, (503) 435-0141), or go to the website http://www.protectoregondl.org/ and order signature sheets! We need everyone to step up because the clock is ticking and we need to gather 58,142 signatures by mid September!

If you have filled up signature sheets please mail them back to us for processing. The return address is on the back of the signature sheet.

It will take all of us to gather enough signatures to get the referendum on the ballot.  Get in the game and send a message to our governor and our legislature that Oregonians are fed up and want a chance to decide if illegal aliens should get driver privilege cards.  Let's get it on the ballot!

Albany

Aloha

Ashland

Aumsville

Baker City

Bandon

Beaverton

Beaver Creek

Bend

Boring

Brookings

Canby

Carlton

Cannon Beach

Central Point

Cheshire

Clackamas

Clatskanie

Cottage Grove

Corbet

Coos Bay

Coquille

Corvallis

Creswell

Crooked River

Dallas

Dayton

Damascus

Dufur

Forest Grove

Eugene

Eagle Point

Estacada

Gaston

Gladstone

Glide

Grants Pass

Grass Valley

Gresham

Halsey

Happy Valley

Hebo

Hermiston

Hillsboro

Hood River

Ione

Jefferson

Joseph

Junction City

King City

Klamath Falls

Keizer

La Grande

Lafayette

Lake Oswego

Lakeview

La Pine

Lebannon

Madras

Mapleton

McKenzie Bridge

McMinnville

Medford

Milton-Freewater

Milwaukie

Molalla

Monmouth

Myrtle Creek

Nehalem

Newport

North Bend

North Powder

Oakland

Oregon City

Portland

Rainer

Redmond

Roseburg

Saint Helens

Salem

Scappose

Scio

Seaside

Silverton

Siletz

Springfield

Stayton

Sun River

Sutherland

The Dalles

Tigard

Tualatin

Turner

Union

Veneta

Warren

Warrenton

West Linn

Woodburn

Yoncalla

Drug fighters run on fumes

COQUILLE — After 25 years of battling crime, the area’s multi-agency anti-drug task force could run out of money in a little more than a year.

Running out would force the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team to depend on already cash-strapped local governments.

Cal Mitts, SCINT’s director, said the team has enough grant money to continue operations for approximately 14 months.

The team, which borrows detectives from local police agencies, leads anti-drug investigations by its member agencies. It relies on federal and community grants to pay its staff.

“We’re 100 percent grant-funded,” Mitts said.

The problem? Grants have dried up. And the financial crunch is coming at a time when use of both methamphetamine and heroin is rebounding in the area.

“They’re both up considerably,” Mitts said.

Combating meth has been one of SCINT’s primary missions throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. One of the most noteworthy victories came in 2005, when SCINT and other agencies arrested 15 people in the Barview area in a project named Operation: Black Ice.

The number of meth labs in the area shrank after state legislators moved a key precursor chemical behind pharmacy counters. Starting in 2006, any psuedoephedrine purchase required a prescription.

But shutting down the labs didn’t stop meth. Mitts said criminal drug trafficking organizations in Mexico have filled the gap.

In May, a task force of state and federal law enforcement agencies arrested more than 30 people in Klamath County suspected of operating a meth-trafficking ring.

The Oregon Department of Justice said it had found links between the traffickers and Mexican cartels.

I would comfortably say 90 percent — basically all of our drugs — are coming from south of the border,” Mitts said.

While methamphetamine is seeing a resurgence in the area, its nothing like what’s being experienced with heroin.

Despite popular perceptions, Mitts said heroin has a long history in the area.

“In the ’80s and ’90s, there was a lot more of it,” he said. “It was black tar as opposed to powdered — or ‘gunpowder.’”

Still, Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier — who once served as a special prosecutor for the team — said arrests for the drug were relatively uncommon.

“In the seven years I was there, I could probably count on both hands and my toes the whole number of heroin cases we had,” Frasier said.

But the epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse that hit the nation in the past decade brought with it a new generation of heroin users.

“With the safeguards that have been put in place since that rise, the people who cannot obtain the pain pills that they could in the past are looking on the street,” Frasier said.

Both Mitts and Frasier said heroin is now cheaper on the South Coast’s black market than prescription opiate-based painkillers.

“It’s alarming to see the age demographics,” Mitts said. “They keep getting younger.”

The veteran officer said he’d be hard-pressed to name anyone the team had arrested recently over the age of 30.

Over the past decade, the team has relied heavily on community and federal grants to pay its salaries.

Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said that from 2003 through 2010 — the year before the House Republican leadership banned all earmarks — he managed to secure more than $1 million to fund the team. The last earmark was the biggest — about $600,000 — and SCINT has lived on it ever since.

“Unfortunately, the Republican ban on earmarks remains in effect, to the detriment of programs like SCINT, but I will continue to fight to fund it in any way I can,” DeFazio said.

Mitts said the team supplements federal money with smaller community grants, including one from the Coquille Indian Tribe.

Mitts said if the agency can’t secure more outside funding, its only option will be to turn to the county and its partner city governments for help.

“What we’re going to have to see is the different municipalities stepping up,” he said.

But Coos County Sheriff Craig Zanni said his agency is already exceeding its commitment to SCINT.

“We already house the team and fund it by providing staff out of the department,” Zanni said.

More money?

“Unless the commissioners hit the Powerball jackpot, I doubt it,” he said.

In its heyday, SCINT had four detectives, an administrative aide, an intelligence analyst, a director and a special prosecutor. Mitts said he’s currently operating with two full-time detectives.

A few years ago, the team hit its lowest point: a director and one detective. It could return to that level if the grants aren’t renewed within 14 months or so, Frasier said.

In the meantime, SCINT continues to pursue its mission with the resources it has on hand. Mitts said a recent operation targeting a low-income housing development in Empire netted a number of heroin arrests.

The veteran officer said for investigations like that to be successful, the public has to provide information — and then testify in court.

“We can only do so much with anonymous information,” Mitts said.

What about asset forfeiture?

While SCINT today relies on grants for its survival, it wasn’t always that way.

Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier, who formerly served as a special prosecutor for the team, said that in SCINT’s early days, the team subsisted primarily on asset forfeitures from drug arrests.

In those days, drug task forces nationwide commonly supported themselves by selling cars, homes and other property seized in raids.

Marijuana not methamphetamine, was SCINT’s cash cow.

“The meth cases generally did not generate a lot of forfeitures,” Frasier said. Chemical contamination makes former meth labs unappealing to potential buyers.

In the late 1990s, Oregon voters passed two ballot measures that would inhibit the team’s ability to profit from asset forfeitures.

The first was Measure 67 in 1998, better known as the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. Because so many marijuana growing operations are being conducted under the auspices of the act, prosecutions and subsequent seizures prove difficult, Frasier said.

Then, in 2000, Oregon voters passed Measure 3, which prevented law enforcement from retaining the proceeds from forfeited assets.

“With the lack of funds being available for SCINT to operate, it basically went into a shutdown mode,” Frasier said.

The Legislature loosened the law in 2008, allowing police to keep as much as 63 percent of forfeiture proceeds. But Frasier said the continued difficulty in prosecuting marijuana growers means the process remains relatively unprofitable.

Lack of options for treating opiate addiction

Increasing opiate addiction on the South Coast is straining the resources of treatment providers.

The area badly needs residential services and increased access to Suboxone for detox purposes, said Diedrie Lindsey, director of ADAPT Counseling and Treatment Services. ADAPT provides drug and alcohol treatment services to people on parole and probation through Coos County Community Corrections.

“With opiate addiction, people get three days into the seizure and they’ll hurt so bad they’ll go out and use,” she said.

Suboxone is a drug containing the semi-synthetic opiate buprenorphine and a chemical called nalaxone, which blocks opiate receptors in the central nervous system. Lindsey said the drug is one of the most effective ways to help patients detox, but he knows of only one provider in the area.

Lindsey said ADAPT sees 16-20 people on parole and probation as part of its contract with Coos County, and about 260 people total. Read more about Drug fighters run on fumes

Missing the boat

Oregon Republicans seem to have missed a key lesson of the 2012 election, and are embarking on a symbolic campaign that will succeed only in further alienating Latino voters.

When Republicans fared worse than expected at the polls last November here and nationally, some soul-searching rhetoric from within the party suggested the GOP needed to reach out more effectively to Latino voters who rejected their message. A bipartisan immigration reform effort is still working its way through Congress despite vocal opposition from some in the GOP.

A key element of that reform bill would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in this country.

Oregon Republicans, meanwhile, continue to oppose measures designed to allow those immigrants to better contribute to the state's economy. GOP lawmakers opposed two such bills that ultimately passed the Legislature and will become law.

One permits the children of parents who brought them here illegally to pay in-state tuition at public universities as long as they live in Oregon and graduated from high school here. The other will allow undocumented residents to obtain a permit to drive legally in Oregon.

After the driving permit bill passed and Gov. John Kitzhaber signed it, Republican Reps. Sal Esquivel of Medford and Kim Thatcher of Keizer launched a referendum to overturn the law — despite the fact that the state's 14 GOP senators split evenly on the bill on final passage.

If the two, aided by the group Oregonians for Immigration Reform, can gather more than 58,000 signatures from registered voters within 90 days of the Legislature's adjournment, the referendum will appear on the November 2014 ballot. The new law, scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, would be put on hold until after the vote.

Supporters of the new driving permit law argue it will make the state's roads safer by encouraging undocumented residents to purchase insurance and have their driving skills tested. Opponents say residents who came here illegally should not be rewarded with driving privileges.

Despite the bipartisan support for the bill in the Legislature, the Oregon Republican Party has endorsed the referendum campaign, warning of voter fraud and "subversive terrorist acts," in the words of GOP Chairwoman Suzanne Gallagher — although the driving permits may not be used to vote, board a plane or purchase a firearm.

We're not convinced the driving law will do what its backers say it will, but it's unlikely to do any real damage — except to the image of the state's Republicans among Latino voters.

  Read more about Missing the boat

Yet another state takes the hit

Oregonians should lend a shoulder to cry on for our friends in Colorado who have just had a bill signed into law giving driver licenses to illegal aliens in their state.  Unfortunately for them, their bill was loaded with a Public Safety clause so that it can't be challenged by Colorado's citizens.

Protect Oregon Driver Licenses filed a referendum just days after a similar bill, SB 833 was signed into law by Governor Kitzhaber here in Oregon.  We intend to collect 58,142 valid signatures so that we can get this issue on the ballot and give Oregon voters a voice and a vote on whether illegal aliens should be given driver licenses so they can drive to their jobs.

Our goal is to be the domino that just won't go down in the long line of dominoes at risk of falling.  Hopefully it will cause other states to take notice...citizens can and will fight back if pushed too hard.

The fact remains that liberal Democrats and even some off track Republicans are willfully ruining our country with horrendous legislation that undermines the rule of law, rewards illegal behavior and fails to protect the citizens of this great country from the damage caused by illegal immigration.

It would be a wonderful thing if so many of our politicians would get their eye off the ballot box and get their head in the game.  Our country, and our way of life, is deteriorating at an alarming rate and many State Legislatures and Congress are so arrogant they don't notice and don't even seem to care about the damage they are causing. Their concern about being re-elected is clouding their vision.

I told my State Senator, Peter Courtney, that when he retires I hope he looks back at all the damage he has done to our state and finally sees and acknowledges the results of his efforts.  I doubt he will, but at least the idea is planted.

It's a good thing we have elections...well, at least for now. Read more about Yet another state takes the hit

Immigrant driver's licenses signed in Colorado

DENVER (AP) — Immigrants living illegally in Colorado will be able to get driver's licenses under a bill signed Wednesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper, adding the state to a handful of others that provide a legal way for immigrants to use the roads.

The issue has picked up momentum this year, with Oregon and Nevada passing laws in recent weeks, and Connecticut's governor expected to pass a measure that lawmakers approved last week.

Hickenlooper said he saw the proposal as a step toward changing the nation's immigration laws.

"I'm not trying to tell Congress what form that takes, any of the details, but we are moving in that direction, and this is something that's a first step," the Democratic governor said.

The bill was signed in private, before the governor signed several other bills in front of lawmakers and the media. But Hickenlooper's office said the private signing was simply because one of the lead sponsors was out of town.

"We weren't trying to downplay it," spokesman Eric Brown said.

Supporters of the bill argued that everyone on the roads should know the rules and be insured, regardless of their immigration status.

The licenses would be labeled to say they are not valid for federal identification and can't be used to vote, obtain public benefits or board a plane. Hickenlooper said immigrants should have licenses that allow them to drive to work, get insurance, and be identified in car accidents, while at the same time making clear they are not U.S. citizens.

New Mexico, Illinois and Washington state already grant driver's licenses to immigrants who are in the country illegally. Utah grants immigrants a driving permit that can't be used for identification. Nevada's bill, signed into law last week, requires immigrants to prove their identity with a passport or birth certificate, and the "driving privilege cards" must be renewed annually.

In Colorado, immigrants pass a driver's license test and prove they're paying state and federal taxes. They also must show an identification card from their country of origin. The licenses would be renewed every three years.

But opponents argued there's no way to verify the identities of immigrants with certainty, and they worried the licenses wouldn't necessarily lead to more people having insurance. Republican Sen. Kevin Lundberg said he worried the proposal would encourage more people to come to Colorado illegally.

Colorado's bill takes effect Aug. 1, 2014. Legislative analysts who worked on the bill estimate that more than 45,000 immigrants will apply for licenses the first year. Read more about Immigrant driver's licenses signed in Colorado

Rick Scott Vetoes Bill to Give Illegal Immigrants Driver's Licenses

Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have required Florida hand out driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, a sign he is taking a stand against the left in favor of conservatism.

“Florida is home to immigrants of many nationalities, who add to the cultural fabric of our great state, and whose productivity and hard work have contributed to our economic turnaround,” Scott said in his official letter to Florida Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner announcing the veto. “Still, our nation struggles with immigration issues every day, as Americans seek to reconcile the fact that at one point our families were immigrants who came, as many do today, to work and live the American dream with the fact that the federal government has failed at enforcing the nation’s laws on this topic.”

Scott went on to detail the inconsistencies of immigration policy coming out of Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security and President Barack Obama’s administration at large.

“Despite the federal government’s inability to enforce the nation’s current immigration laws or to find common ground on how to change them, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in a June 2012 memo the immediate establishment of a ‘Deferred Action Process for Childhood Arrivals,’” Scott wrote. “Through this process DHS provides that a young person illegally brought to the United States as a child will not be subject to removal if the individual meets certain criteria."

"Qualifying for deferred action status does not confer substantive rights or lawful status upon an individual; it does not create a pathway to a green card or citizenship; nor does it extend to any family members of the person granted the status either," he explained. "Deferred action status is simply a policy of the Obama Administration, absent Congressional direction, designed to dictate removal action decisions using DHS agency discretion. It was never passed by Congress, nor is it a promulgated rule.”

The institutional left and Florida Democrats are furious that Scott would make such a move. Democrat state Sen. Darren Soto called Scott’s veto an “anti-Hispanic bomb.”

“Make no mistake about it: This will be an anti-Hispanic bomb if he vetoes this bill,’’ Soto, a sponsor of the legislation, said before Scott officially vetoed the bill according to the National Journal. “The vast majority of my peers understand we need to encourage immigrants to become working members of our society. It makes no sense that the Scott administration would veto something it’s already doing.”

The Florida House Democrat who also sponsored the bill, Rep. Randolph Bracy, tried to argue Scott’s veto foils plans to move the national Republican party as a whole toward amnesty. “I thought the party was moving in that direction and was behind this bill, and then the governor just comes out of nowhere and does this,” Bracy said according to National Journal. “Republicans have been talking as a party about Hispanic outreach, and this was only a small step.” Read more about Rick Scott Vetoes Bill to Give Illegal Immigrants Driver's Licenses

Drugs, deaths and driver cards

Drug abuse is a deadly problem in Oregon and especially in Marion County as reported in the Statesman Journal.  Certainly, the demand for drugs is high and when there is demand a market is created.  However, is it the intent of the Oregon Legislature to make drug dealing easier?  One would think so with the passage of SB 833, a bill giving driver privilege cards to illegal aliens with virtually useless ID requirements to obtain the card. This appears to be an open invitation for cartel operatives to move into our state and distribute drugs even more easily.

Protect Oregon Driver Licenses has filed a referendum to overturn this egregious law in an effort to slow down drug cartel operatives in Oregon and to protect Oregon's citizens.  Can you help?  Visit ProtectOregonDL.org and find out what you can do to stop the insanity.

  Read more about Drugs, deaths and driver cards

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - driver's license