Residency Verification

The DMV and INS recently linked up by computer to verify the legal residency status of people applying for their first-time driver’s license or identification card. This cooperation by the agencies is costing the taxpayers $1.1 million. There’s only one catch: renewals cannot be traced. Would this feature have added another $1.1 million to the deal?

I’ve never understood how an illegal immigrant could obtain a driver’s license, or any other state funded service for that matter. Now I know. Lack of simple cooperation and common sense. I guess we expect too much from our state and federal agencies.

Wouldn’t it make better sense to spend the money for additional border patrol to eliminate the infiltration of illegal immigrants before they brave the lines at the local DMV?

I’ve been driving in California for seven years and have never been stopped. I think those odds are pretty good. Don’t you?

BARRY PETERSON

Yorba Linda