The following piece is part of an ongoing series of HuffPost's OffTheBus reports by citizen policy experts critiquing different aspects of Campaign '08.
It seemed like such a good idea. And the security experts - Richard Clarke, Margaret Stock - thought so too. The idea? "[A]n administrative policy change that will give all New Yorkers the opportunity to apply for state driver licenses without regard to immigration status," announced by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Commissioner David Swarts on Sept. 21, 2007.
But in less than two months, this good idea got watered-down, then deep-sixed altogether. What happened? And why did it happen so fast? How did a "solid" plan devolve into a debate "tripwire?"
In a series of columns Juan Gonzales of the New York Daily News traces the demise of the Spitzer plan. First, the Feds' "Real ID" plan, on the ropes, needed a boost; second, and fatally, the plan flew into the buzz saw of anti-immigrant fervor now obsessing significant segments of the public discourse (rational discussions of security be damned).
Nicholas Confessore, Raymond Hernandez and Danny Hakim provide a cogent post mortem (including an MP3 "backstory" audio from Danny Hakim) - "Mr. Spitzer did not spare his harshest critics, who he said had inflamed the debate with anti-immigrant rhetoric that equated minimum-wage, undocumented dishwashers with Osama bin Laden.' He also said he still believed his proposal would have benefited New Yorkers, citizens, and immigrants alike, and lit into federal officials for failing to fix the nation's immigration system." The topic will likely infect the presidential race from here on out.
Meanwhile, Real ID continues to totter, and the Democratic presidential candidates bicker about who said what when about the license issue. Indeed, it was almost the first question to be asked in the Las Vegas debate on Nov. 15th. (Use the Gray Lady's nifty "transcript analyzer" to see exactly how it went down.)
When (or if) the dust settles, perhaps we can go back to Gov. Spitzer's original idea, think about what the experts said about it, and ask the flamers to answer this question: What part of safety and security don't you understand?
Halliburton is awarded a no-bid contract to build a 16-lane highway (eight north, eight south) between the Mexican border and the Canadian border. It runs through Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington - where a considerable amount of wasteland is thought to exist anyway. The highway is surrounded by 60-foot-high walls.
There are no exits, but every 30 miles, there is a Jack-in-the-Box and a Chevron station with plenty of parking. Workers at these establishments must have special coded passes and the back entrances are patrolled by armed TSA agents. Drivers enter the highway in Mexico and drive until they exit in Canada, where they are promised entry-level jobs in the shale oil industry - America's next great source of fuel energy.
Or, we can just build a seven hundred mile wall along our border.
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What has to happen is help the countries they come from to be decent to their citizens. Help them to become more liberal, instead of helping them to oppress their people for OUR corporations.
It's our chickens coming home to roost. So many years of killing and maiming in the name of profit for international companies leads to people wanting to come to where the profits and benefits go. Stop doing that, let the people benefit in THEIR countries, and the problem ceases to exist.
But, of course, that is TOO LOGICAL for the right wingers that abuse others for profit.
Besides, if people had drivers licenses, they might be able to be held accountable for any accidents the cause, and wouldn't come in contact with so much of the black market folks that lead them into more criminal areas. It's logical - but of course those that are afraid of others that they think are beneath them won't be swayed by logic.
It is asinine to believe that the proposed plan would have any effect on immigration, illegal or otherwise, whatsoever. Does anyone seriously believe that the granting of a limited form of driver's license would amount to a welcome sign for illegal immigrants? The economic forces behind illegal immigration are much, much larger issues. The aborted plan only hoped to address the issue of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on our roadways. Would every undocumented worker comply and sign-up for the new ID? No. It would be naive to hope for that. But even if only a few took advantage of the new program, we New Yorkers would be a bit safer.
Unfortunately, there a lot of you folks out there who can't see beyond the illegal immigrant as bogeyman to the root of the problem: the economic disparity between Latin America and the U.S. As long as there are jobs to be had here, and desperate people there, some of them will take great risks to come here. Think for just a minute about why someone would literally risk their life to come here and work for wages that are, by our standards, pitiful. If you really want to tackle the problem, start by targeting the employers who take advantage of a desperate and unprotected labor pool to maximize their profits. Maybe there should be much stiffer laws against hiring undocumented workers...
I guess it's easier to regurgitate rhetoric about building walls and such.
A giant fence will only solve the problem in the conservative dream world where abstinence education actually prevents teen pregnancy, and "just say no" keeps kids off drugs.
The illegals on the other hand, main objective is to work as much as possible and send every dime they can spare back home. some have their wives and children with them who can take full advantage of social programs like wic, a great program, by the way that has helped many children get some of the nutrients they need. It would be nice to see some other countries implement this as well.
After years of this, some are ready to go back home and live off their savings as long as the dollar stays strong against their native currency.
I live in a tourist town that pretty much dies in the winter months. In the summer we see an influx of workers from Russia and it's satellite countries that will work at the lowest wage possible in the service industry, If you order a pizza from any of the major chains of pizzeria here, chances are it was made by one of these workers. They are in stiff competition with Mexican house keepers for the hotel industry here one side constantly trying to out bid the other side for wages.
The liberals put out B.S. that it is impossible to roundup 12 million illegals. Hey, if every Japanese person was able to be rounded up in 1942 without computers and high-tech technology then it can certainly be accomplished today. The L.A. School Board recently attempted to conduct a meeting with parents in Spanish. Rightly many African American parents in attendance complained. A Hispanic parent was quoted in the Times "I think it is racist when people say we should speak English in America." Illegals get free education and social services. Illegals pay in state tutition to CA colleges while an American citizen from Colo. must pay higher non-resident fees.
And at this time of year it might be good to remember that it was a drugged out illegal who killed Bob Clark, director of "Christmas Story", and his son. Enough is enough. Since they don't care to learn English or abide by our laws it would be better for all to ship them back to their countries of origin and start taking care of our own first.
And yet the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for one, vigorously works to defend illegal and unsupervised immigration.
The thing about this issue is that it clearly lays out who is concerned about the security of America and who is not.
You could even say it clearly demarcates who would and who wouldn't sell America out.