Judge Prohibits Texas From Denying Driver’s Licenses to Legal Immigrants
 

Judge Prohibits Texas From Denying Driver’s Licenses to Legal Immigrants
A judge this week ruled this week that Texas can no longer deny driver's licenses to legal immigrants with temporary visas and must issue standard licenses instead of non-standard ones approved by a state panel three years ago.
Judge Orlinda Naranjo said in a ruling Wednesday that the Texas Department of Public Safety exceeded its legal authority when it adopted a policy in 2008 as part of a crackdown on identity theft and fraud that requires immigrants applying for driver's licenses to prove they're in the country legally.
Gov. Rick Perry, a popular choice among Republicans looking for a 2012 GOP presidential contender, supported the policy that was a blueprint for a new law that is set to take effect at the end of this September. Under the law, all legal immigrants with visas authorized for less than one year or scheduled to expire in less than six months are still entitled to standard-issued driver's licenses.
"The governor continues to support requiring driver's license applicants to prove they are in the country legally before being issued a license," Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said in an email to FoxNews.com.
The debate over driving privileges for illegal immigrants has raged across the country with most states prohibiting it but others considering a two-tiered licensing system. But driving privileges for legal immigrants is more standard fare in the states.
In Texas, the ruling is a victory for immigrant rights groups who said that thousands were denied standard-issued licenses even though they had valid immigration documents issued by the federal government.
"The unlawful DPS attempt to deny licenses to immigrants violated our national tradition and aspiration, so we welcome the court's wise ruling," said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a Latino civil rights group.
MALDEF sued the state on behalf of six immigrants and a landscaping business that employs foreign workers under the federal H-2B visa program. That program allows companies to hire temporary foreign workers after certifying that they can find no American workers to take the jobs.
"We are very pleased that the court halted DPS from implementing its own arbitrary, misguided policies that denied licenses to hardworking immigrants living in the United States with permission," said David Hinojosa, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel and lead attorney in the case.
"These irrational policies have not only affected those immigrants and their families, causing them to suffer from discrimination, but also impacted hundreds of Texas businesses who legally employ immigrants, and we are glad to put an end to the senseless action."
A DPS spokesman declined to comment. The state is appealing the ruling and DPS can continue its policy until the new law takes effect.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...#ixzz1TZLcnGRi

In case anyone is confused about this, let us remember that the biggest, most lethal terrorist act commited in the history of terrorism was commited by legal immigrants to the US. They came here legally, but they overstayed their visas and remained illegally. If they had been hunted down and thrown out, it never would have happened.

What kind of driver's licenses did those scumbags have? Nobody who is not a US citizen should have any of the identification that the rest of us have. Law enforcement needs to be able to distinguish non-citizens immediately. And nobody who is here on a visa should possess identification that is valid for any length of time beyond the terms of their visa.

I agree.

Sincere question:

There are laws which require showing identification to LEOS on demand, but are there any laws which require anyone, citizen or not, to carry identification on their person as they go about their public day?

Essentially, a driver's license is a dubious certificate of vehicular competency which has morphed into government issued personal identification, and the (in these days) inessential vehicle registration slip is now a double for place of owner's residence.

Same with social security numbers, which originally weren't supposed to be used for identification purposes, but are now essential for everything from employment to applying for a loan to receiving health care.

Depends on which state you're in. California has no stop and ID law. You don't have to ID yourself unless you are being arrested. The problem with not ID'ing yourself is that they are free to ID you as they want, and let you prove otherwise. If they say you match a description of Bad Leroy Brown who has three warrants out in a county or state far, far away, You could be in for a wait to get to court and let them prove you're this person. If you say you're not that person and produce ID, you're less likely to be held.
But can they just ask anyone walking down the street in California for ID just based upon their inquisitiveness?...they can, but under that premise, you are not beholden to answer or produce any ID.

Back when I still had a running business with daily or weekly customers, I started refusing to accept out of state drivers license from oregon mostly, as soon as I discovered they were giving them to illegals for the purpose of driving. If they gave me a credit card or tried to use a check to buy or deposit money on goods, I told them no go on Oregon license as ID. And it happened many times too. One guy had Oregon plates on his car that read "immgrnt" or something close to that, and bought a restaurant downtown.