Kulongoski to Tighten License Requirements

Amid a heated debate nationwide over drivers license requirements, Governor Ted Kulongoski will issue new restrictions for obtaining an Oregon drivers license. Under his proposal, applicants for licenses will have to provide Social Security numbers or otherwise prove they are legally in the country.

From the Oregonian:

Gov. Ted Kulongoski plans to issue an executive order today that he says would "dramatically tighten" restrictions on Oregon driver's licenses and make it far more difficult for illegal immigrants to get one.

Under Kulongoski's order, which would be subject to approval by the Oregon Transportation Commission, licenses would be issued only to those who have valid Social Security numbers or who can prove they're in the country legally. Driver and Motor Vehicle Services officials would be required to verify the Social Security numbers, which currently is done only for commercial drivers.

"There is an increasing concern, based on ongoing investigations, that Oregon is becoming a safe haven" for unlawfully obtaining identification, said Kulongoski's spokeswoman Patty Wentz. "We need to quickly change the requirements to more closely match other states."

Oregon is one of seven states that do not require proof of "legal presence" to get a license. The new rules, Wentz said, "makes us a de facto legal presence state."

Kulongoski tied the order to concerns over security:

The governor's executive order would put new limits on the kinds of identification the state can accept before issuing a driver's license. For example, current laws allow applicants to use identification issued by foreign governments, such as birth certificates and consulate cards. The new rules would require papers from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services proving legal residence.

The new rules also would require those without Social Security numbers to offer a valid reason why they don't have one.

In a draft of the order, which was posted Thursday on an immigrant rights Web site, Kulongoski says he is acting out of security concerns.

"It appears that criminal organizations both inside and outside Oregon are using Oregon's permissive standards in order to assist persons to illegally obtain driver licenses and identification cards from DMV," the draft order states.

Read the rest. Kulongoski has also proposed a two-tiered system of licenses, with a seperate license for people who can't prove legal presence. That license would confer driving privileges, but would not be an official identification card.

Discuss.

  • Thomas Ware (unverified)
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    Terra, terra, terra; terra all the time… BE AFRAID! Be very afraid! Big, bad boogyman tururist comin’ to git ya’. Yeah, Usama binBoogyman and his gang of born-again, gay, muslum, mexican tururists comin’ to rape all yur’ (white) wemin, steal all the jobs…

    Stupid, just plain stupid. When did we become such a nation of pussies?

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    This is very disappointing.

    It seems like an irrational concession to the terrormongers.

  • Erik Sorensen (unverified)
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    Yes, this is a very bad move for Governor Kulongoski. Many of us are scratching our heads over some of his double speak. In news article from Wednesday, Patty Wentz said Governor Kulongoski supported licenses for undocumented immigrants all the while knowing about the executive order which would deny them licenses.

    Currently, there are over 120,000 undocumented immigrants in Oregon, many of whom drive on Oregon's roads to get to work, buy groceries, and take their kids to school. As a result of the Governor’s proposed executive order, these drivers would not be allow to take drivers classes or pass driving tests, will not be able to get insurance, and will be more likely to be involved in a potentially fatal accident. Studies from AAA show that licensing drivers prevents accidents and insurance losses as drivers are tested, registered and photographed. Likewise, licensing and law enforcement agencies are better able to track unsafe drivers.

    Restricting driver's license access also erodes community trust. Rather than increasing security, driver's license restrictions would result in a situation where immigrants fear discrimination and being reported to ICE. They therefore would avoid contact with law enforcement and are less likely to report crimes and assist local law enforcement fight criminal and terrorist activity. This decreases community trust and infringes upon efforts to fight crime and save lives.

    It is a real tragedy for the hard working immigrants in this state that Governor Kulongoski has chosen to cave to the anti-immigrant crowd and fear mongers.

    Erik Sorensen Communications Director CAUSA www.causaoregon.org www.causaoregon.blogspot.com

  • Brian (unverified)
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    "There is an increasing concern, based on ongoing investigations, that Oregon is becoming a safe haven" for unlawfully obtaining identification, said Kulongoski's spokeswoman Patty Wentz. "We need to quickly change the requirements to more closely match other states."

    They're just now figuring this out? Where ya' been?

    Thomas & Stephanie,

    Irrational ramblings regarding terrorists aside, you are aware that state issued drivers licenses also serve as the primary means for identification in this country, right? Kind of defeats the purpose if you hand 'em out to everyone with minimal standards for verifying ones identity.

    I have heard several good arguments for & against REAL ID, but neither of you presented one.

  • Eric Parker (unverified)
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    Even if we implement this idea by Ted, they will eventually get something simular through other channels no matter what that channel is. They can't help it - it's part of their culture. We have come to this point because Oregon has been scared (by way of 'political correctness') to offend their culture and not do anything (for fear of being labeled a 'rasist' by them) to stem it. I applaud Ted for going forward on this.

  • guess who? (unverified)
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    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    Spitzer, Clinton and finally Ted actually come down from their gated mansions and do what the little people want. must be an election coming up cause that is the only time they listen.

    CAUSA - give it up already, no body is buying your lies no matter how many times you say it dummy, do something really good for the poor for once, eliminate their 3rd world job competition.

    Citizenship proof to Vote and no more Police hands tied behind their backs via sanctuary is next. Then Social Security card verification to work will follow and illegals will all go home!

  • artsasinic (unverified)
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    It's about friggin' time we took a step in the right direction. Many people seem to forget, regardless of personal feelings towards illegal workers, every single one of them is using either forged, or even more special, STOLEN ID. These are of course crimes for which most of us would be sent to jail. The key word is illegal!!

  • artsasinic (unverified)
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    It's about friggin' time we took a step in the right direction. Many people seem to forget, regardless of personal feelings towards illegal workers, every single one of them is using either forged, or even more special, STOLEN ID. These are of course crimes for which most of us would be sent to jail. The key word is illegal!!

  • artsasinic (unverified)
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    It's about friggin' time we took a step in the right direction. Many people seem to forget, regardless of personal feelings towards illegal workers, every single one of them is using either forged, or even more special, STOLEN ID. These are of course crimes for which most of us would be sent to jail. The key word is illegal!!

  • (Show?)

    Thomas, the problem isn't "a nation of pussies," it's a nation of dick-wavers. "Mission accomplished" swaggering etc., remember?

    Ted K. recently has been speaking of creating in effect "second class drivers' licenses" that would not be valid as identification for employment and other purposes, but would be used to permit driving and enable getting auto insurance. I am not defending this one way or another and am not sure it would work, just pointing it out.

    It seems possible that he is still on that course, but is leading with restricting the current licenses before moving to create the new ones. I am not sure if he could do the latter by executive order.

    Eric Parker, your comments are not strictly speaking racist but they are deeply and hostilely ethnocentric. "They" don't all come from a single "culture" anyway (illegally resident foreigners with false IDs come from many different countries and several different continents). So can you be specific about which "culture" so powerfully impels people to get fake IDs that they can't help it? Or are you saying "they" have a culture that makes "them" all liars?

    And tell me, how can you tell who has this culture? Is it from their physical appearance? If so, or if you operate on the assumption that if someone looks a certain way, they have this "culture" that you view so negatively, then you are being racist.

    BTW, in my view, racism is a pattern of action, not a permanent existential condition. In our culture, there is a well-ingrained pattern of action involving self-deluding denials of racism. The political correctness card is the victim politics of the right. Even David Duke claims to be the victim of political correctness.

  • Abel Johnson (unverified)
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    Guess Who??? Guess Who who??? Must be another coward from the OFIR/Minuteklan.

    Actually, you should give it up. Just because Kulongoski took the chicken route and caved to the anti-immigrant activists doesn't make it a correct decision. What can we really expect from Teddy K anyways? He is facing problems with Goldschmidt and Baby Gabriel. He doesn't know enough about what he can do, to know what he should do.

    The fact that anti-immigrant activists think that if undocs can't get licenses, they will self deport. That is not the case at all. There are extensive reports on that everywhere and from non-partisan sources. For one, the non-partisan policy group, StateAction, found that driver's license restrictions have not deterred illegal immigration. Nor has it encouraged existing immigrants to return to their homelands.

    As for "national security" and "fraud", don't they think that the terrorists and criminals have away around getting licenses? All the governor is doing is punishing hard working immigrant familes and a danger for residents . Denying access to driving classes, licenses, ability to obtain insurance is not good public policy and there are many Chiefs of Police around the nation that agree.

    I think it is high time that the black and white thinkers like the Governor and the anti-immigrant activists wake up. Their little plan of dealing with undocumented immigrants is not working and it is doing more of a threat to public safety.

  • uspride (unverified)
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    Hey Eric (CASA), You and all the other illegals need to get the hell out of the USA. Enough of your bull. Illegal is Illegal! Americans are tired of your words that spew out. There is no discussion here. The law is what it is. See YA!!!

  • Gus (unverified)
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    I apologize in advance if I offend anyone this is just my personal view. I find it quite amusing to read these posts. Half of them are of educated people that most likely have a college degree and are the most obvious ones by the way they write as well by the way they think. On other side you can tell that half of these people are so uneducated just by the way they talk saying things like "illegal immigrants need to get the hell out of the country". I wonder how many of these finished high school or have any idea of what they are talking about. I hate being racist but this bunch of rednecks racists have no idea how much the country depends on illegal immigrants. Only if they knew that the U.S. is in 9 trillion debt and that each year the president will say how good they did.. and only made the debt go up by 300 million and that they are not paying back any debt and the social security money from my generation is being taken and with all the immigrants it is already going to be hard to pay this debt. Without the immigrants and the immigrant's kids who are also the future of this country the debt will never be paid. So that basically says you think were in debt now just wait 20 years from now when my kids generation will be born being already in more debt... Also to make a point has it hit anyone that the majority of illegal immigrants pay insurance? and have cars? and drive? and that it is not really a choice for a lot of them to go back to their country and the theory of "self deporting" is not going to work. All that will do is make insurance company loose thousands of clients millions of dollars. That's also hoping that the immigrants will feel bad about their conditions and just go back to their country and starve suffer more violence or just stay the same way in the U.S. just not paying insurance and if they get in accident with an American then oh well sucks for the American maybe next time they will vote for a better governor. Most likely nothing is going to happen because if the immigrant gets deported then well hey he is deported doesn't mean the American's car is going to get fixed. Also does is the governor really stupid thinking that illegal people not having license is gonna stop them from driving? if they are illegal any ways and are living in the conditions that they do here.. is that really gonna stop them? What I'm trying to say is that I don't believe stopping immigrants from obtaining a legal identification card is going to stop them from living here. It is going to cause chaos and make things harder for the hard working immigrant families here who all they are trying to do is feed their family. If you think terrorists can't make illegal documents... then you are very ignorant.. look back in your college years and think about how easy it was to get a fake id. I'm sure it is just as easy because if it wasn't they wouldn't be such a threat to the nation.

    ~Gus

  • USPride (unverified)
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    Racism? What is racist about enforcing our laws? What is racist about preserving American culture and making sure future Americans (of all races) have the the same quality of life that our parents had?

    How many is too many? How many do you want to pay for? Ever been to an emergency room in CA? Ever been to a public school in CA? Ever seen the welfare and social security fraud that costs you and I BILLIONS per year?

    You need to educate yourself and stop listening to the lies of the main stream media.

    Maybe take a trip to a border state and see for yourself that this is an all out invasion.

    Go to numbersUSA.com and see for yourself how bad it really is.

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