Gov. Brown betrays voters’ mandate, signs HB 2015
Today, Oregonians for Immigration Reform expressed anger and disappointment at Gov. Kate Brown's signing, on August 9, 2019, of House Bill 2015, which will provide Oregon driver licenses to illegal aliens.
"In 2014, our group spearheaded the ballot measure via which Oregonians, by a two-to-one margin, rejected the 2013 Legislature's approval of 'driver cards' for foreigners here illegally," said OFIR president Cynthia Kendoll. "Yesterday, when she signed House Bill 2015, Gov. Brown told those Oregonians what their vote meant to her and to her accomplices in the Legislature: absolutely nothing."
Rather than honor the clearly-expressed mandate of those they were elected to serve, Kendoll continued, "our governor and Legislature chose to undermine U.S. laws against illegal entry and, instead, reward foreigners who have broken into our nation."
Illegal aliens, said OFIR communications director Jim Ludwick, "steal jobs from Oregonians, particularly from racial minorities and young people just beginning their working lives. As well, the state and local government services they consume cost Oregonians more than $1 billion a year."
And, continued Ludwick, "more than 900 foreign nationals with federal immigration detainers -- the vast majority of them here illegally -- are inmates in our state prisons. Most of them have committed violent crimes against innocent Oregonians."
After all this, concluded Ludwick, "what do our governor and Legislature do? Pass a law to give illegal aliens driver licenses and, thereby, to encourage even more of them to come to our state."
In the history of Oregon politics, Kendoll noted, "one would be hard-pressed to find an instance where lawmakers more starkly betrayed both their constituents' best interests and clearly-expressed will."
Oregonians for Immigration Reform, founded in 2000, is a grassroots citizens' organization that advocates for an end to illegal immigration and a reduction in legal immigration. OFIR and its thousands of members and supporters have qualified two measures for Oregon's statewide ballot: 2014's Measure 88, mentioned above, and 2018's Measure 105, which sought to repeal Oregon's illegal-alien sanctuary law (ORS 181.820A).
