driver's license

Massachusetts Governor Vetoes Bill that Would Give Driver’s Licenses to Illegal Immigrants

Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker on Friday vetoed a bill that would make illegal immigrants eligible to receive state-issued driver’s licenses, though state lawmakers are poised to override the veto. . . . Read more about Massachusetts Governor Vetoes Bill that Would Give Driver’s Licenses to Illegal Immigrants

The Cost of an America with No Borders Is American Lives

The events of the past year have been so calamitous, it can be difficult to get the full scope of our national dysfunction. We as a nation seem to go from one crisis to another, with no time or attention to address deep problems ravaging our communities. Nowhere is this clearer than in our current leadership’s abandonment of immigration law enforcement. . . . Read more about The Cost of an America with No Borders Is American Lives

Three More States Introduce Bills to Give Driver’s Licenses to Illegal Aliens

​Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Idaho have introduced bills that would give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.  This legislation is dangerous because driver's licenses are useful to create an appearance of lawful presence and they serve as a virtual passport to the nation, opening many doors that would otherwise be unavailable. They are also used for countless other purposes like registering to vote and applying for government benefits, as well as for establishing bank and credit card accounts.  . . Read more about Three More States Introduce Bills to Give Driver’s Licenses to Illegal Aliens

Cross: Anniversary of trooper's death a reminder of risks to law enforcement

Little more than 28 years ago, Oregon State Police Trooper Bret R. Clodfelter, 34, on September 30, 1992, stopped a car occupied by three intoxicated men near Klamath Falls. One of them was Francisco Manzo-Hernandez. Trooper Clodfelter arrested the driver of the car for DUII.

OSP Trooper Clodfelter, wanting to prevent Francisco Manzo-Hernandez or the other man from driving drunk, volunteered to drive the men home. The OSP Trooper frisked the two men before placing them in the back of his patrol car.

Tragically, Trooper Clodfelter missed a .38 caliber handgun Francisco Manzo-Hernandez had hidden on his person. Francisco Manzo-Hernandez shot Trooper Clodfelter twice in the back of the head. . . Read more about Cross: Anniversary of trooper's death a reminder of risks to law enforcement

Stolen Lives

Bicameral Legislation Introduced to Stop Greenlighting Drivers’ Licenses for Illegal Aliens

On Wednesday, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Representative Ken Buck (R-CO) introduced legislation that would block grant funding from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to local law enforcement in sanctuary states with policies that permit illegal aliens to obtain drivers’ licenses. . . Read more about Bicameral Legislation Introduced to Stop Greenlighting Drivers’ Licenses for Illegal Aliens

Legislators’ negligence on driver licenses backfires

OFIR has fought long and hard against issuing driver licenses to illegal aliens and in favor of Oregon becoming compliant with the Real ID Act.

“The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver's licenses.  The Act established minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for certain purposes driver’s licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards.” – Department of Homeland Security.

Now, 15 years after the Act was passed, the deadline looms, on Oct. 1, for states to comply, or its citizens lose convenient access to air travel.

Not so surprisingly, the Oregon legislature and our governor have blocked efforts to pass the necessary Real ID measures. In essence, they have been and still are, putting the interests of illegal aliens above the safety and well-being of citizens.   Now citizens face an impossible rush to get Real ID compliant i.d.   Take a moment to read the article that appeared in Sunday’s Oregonian.

Editorial: Oregonians pay the price for legislators’ Real ID protest

Sunday, January 26, 2020  -  By The Oregonian Editorial Board

Boy, Oregon legislators sure showed the federal government a thing or two, didn’t they?

Even though Congress mandated 15 years ago that states adopt stricter standards for issuing driver’s licenses, Oregon lawmakers refused for years to spend a dime of state money to comply with the Real ID Act. Instead, the state sought extensions from the federal government and largely ignored the upgrade requirements, arguing that the federal government should pay for them. But in 2017, Oregon legislators finally gave in and authorized spending to meet the requirements. Oregon, which is poised to begin issuing the federally-approved licenses in July, will likely be, the last in the country to come into compliance with the law.

Legislators may feel their futile protest was a virtuous one, but Oregonians are the ones paying the price. Starting Oct. 1, all air travelers must have either a Real ID-compliant driver’s license, a passport or passport card in order to fly in the United States. Unfortunately, because the state won’t start issuing those new licenses until July 6, there’s not nearly enough time for it to meet expected demand before the Oct. 1 deadline. As The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Andrew Theen reported, the state typically issues 600,000 to 700,000 renewals and replacement cards in an entire year. But there are about 3.25 million Oregonians with drivers’ licenses that won’t meet the new standard. …

Read the rest of the editorial here. Read more about Legislators’ negligence on driver licenses backfires

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). Read more about Gov. Brown betrays voters’ mandate, signs HB 2015

NO on HB 2015! Call Oregon Senators this week!

Alert date: 
June 19, 2019
Alert body: 

HB 2015 (drivers licenses for illegal aliens) is on the edge of the cliff and we need your help to stop it! Contact your Senator and, if you are able, contact every other Senator, too.
Remind them that Oregon voters already said NO with a 66% NO vote. New Zogby polling shows that 63% of Oregonians still OPPOSE drivers licenses for illegal aliens.
Call or email today! Time is running out. 
 

Let voters decide who gets driver's license

Alert date: 
April 18, 2019
Alert body: 

Responsible citizens should step forward, defend government by the people, and demand that the Legislature refer House Bill 2015 to a vote of rank-and-file Oregonians.

By Richard LaMountain, in Portland Tribune, Thursday, April 18, 2019


In 1902, Oregonians approved an amendment to their state Constitution giving rank-and-file voters the power of referendum — the ability to seek to put bills passed by state lawmakers directly before their fellow citizens for a vote.

Today, however, Oregon's Legislature — the very institution the referendum was designed to curb — stands ready to dismiss a decision those citizens made via referendum barely four years ago.

Rep. Diego Hernandez, D-Portland, has introduced House Bill 2015 to offer driving privileges to illegal immigrants. If approved by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Kate Brown, the bill will nullify the overwhelming mandate against those privileges that Oregonians delivered in 2014 via Ballot Measure 88, a citizen-initiated referendum.

The Legislature's Democrats are solidly behind the bill; as they outnumber Republicans 38-to-22 in the House and 18-to-12 in the Senate, its passage appears certain.

Rather than approve House Bill 2015 and send it to the governor, however, lawmakers should refer it to a vote of the people.

For the reason why, consider some recent history. In April 2013, the House voted 38-to-20 and the Senate 20-to-7 to pass Senate Bill 833, which would have offered four-year driver cards to illegal immigrants. On May Day of that year, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber signed the bill.

Over the next four months, Oregonians opposed to its enactment collected the signatures of more than 70,000 registered voters. In doing so, they succeeded in referring the bill to the November 2014 ballot as Ballot Measure 88, to be approved or rejected by their fellow Oregonians.

Over the next year, driver cards' supporters and opponents inundated rank-and-file Oregonians with information and arguments.

The result? On Election Day, voters rejected illegal-immigrant driver cards by the same 2-to-1 margin by which their legislators had approved them.

On this issue, then, our state's system of direct, citizen-initiated democracy manifested a yawning chasm between Oregonians and its lawmakers.

Today, it appears, that chasm remains.

Late last month, Zogby Analytics released the results of a poll, conducted March 18 and 19, of 500 likely Oregon voters. Its major findings:

• 63% oppose, and 30% support, granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. This is virtually identical to the outcome of Ballot Measure 88: 66% against driver cards, and 34% in favor.

• 68.4% believe the Legislature "must respect the decisions made by the voters through the ballot initiative process." Only 18.7% believe the Legislature should enact policies "that have been previously overturned by the voters."

Given this, should voters' rejection of illegal-immigrant driving privileges now be cast aside — by the very lawmakers, indeed, the voters rebuked for approving those privileges in the first place?

Legislative Democrats premise their support of House Bill 2015 on the same criteria they did a half-decade ago: that illegal-immigrant driving privileges will enhance road safety and enable "Oregonians" (their euphemism for foreigners here illegally) to travel more easily to work, school and church.

If they have confidence in these arguments, they should have the courage — the Zogby poll notwithstanding — to introduce them in the court of public opinion and to make their case directly to voters.

If, however, the Legislature and governor enact the bill outright — knowing full well it will negate the mandate against illegal-immigrant driving privileges their constituents delivered but four years ago — they will betray Oregon's system of direct, citizen-initiated democracy and demonstrate contempt for the judgment of the people they are elected to represent. This will compromise the credibility and, indeed, legitimacy of our state's government.

Responsible citizens should step forward, defend government by the people, and demand that the Legislature refer House Bill 2015 to a vote of rank-and-file Oregonians.

Richard F. LaMountain, a former vice president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, was a chief sponsor of 2014's Ballot Measure 88. He lives in Cedar Mill.

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