Hitting the Brakes on the Driver’s License Bill

“Easing Path to Driver’s Licenses” (Aug. 21) is typical of the pandering done by politicians to get votes at the expense of their responsibility to work for the benefit of California. Gov. Gray Davis and Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) don’t have any problem authorizing legal documents for the undocumented. Davis spins it by saying, “People who contribute to our economy and pay taxes are deserving of that privilege.” Sheriff Lee Baca and Cedillo feel that “thorough background checks” by the state Department of Justice are all that really matters. Meanwhile, they are all practicing malfeasance by not enforcing the laws concerning immigration.

The Times writes articles about failing institutions, like health care, and the Legislature bemoans a lack of money, while no one in power wants to breathe a word about the runaway overpopulation that is at the root of these problems. It is apparently not politically correct for self-serving politicians to state the truth about overflowing illegal immigration or to do anything about it.

Michael G. Miller

Los Angeles

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Your quoted remarks of Gov. Davis about his support for AB 60, the driver’s license bill, are utterly amazing. A recent Los Angeles study revealed an estimated $1.1 billion a year that, in violation of the law, was not being paid into Social Security, workers’ compensation, health insurance and other social safety-net programs to protect workers who became ill, injured, unemployed or retired. This study revealed that an estimated 28% of the work force in the county was paid in cash, and one in four didn’t have federal and state payroll taxes withheld. The vast majority of these workers are illegal immigrants.

Whichever way one slices driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, AB 60 aids and abets the violation of federal immigration laws. Issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens so they can drive to work is a violation of federal laws that prohibit illegal immigrants from working in the U.S. Equally amazing is that the differences between the Legislature and the governor aren’t “fully resolved”--little things like security checks for hundreds of thousands of foreigners who’ve walked across our borders in the middle of the night. This dreadful legislation is a test of the mettle of state voters. Are we going to allow this sham to remain unchallenged?

Michael Scott

Glendora

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If California starts giving driver’s licenses to “undocumented” immigrants, what’s next? Will the DMV grant carjackers clear titles to stolen vehicles as a reward for getting away with the crime? Will hit-and-run drivers be given free state-approved car repairs? Will drag racers on public highways receive taxpayer-funded tuneups?

The point here is that these immigrants are not “undocumented,” they are illegal. Anyone brazen enough to admit to that status when applying for a driver’s license should be deported immediately, if our immigration laws are to have any meaning whatsoever.

James Dawson

Tarzana

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A rider should be placed on AB 60, changing the name of our state to Alta California.

Henry Ostermiller

Costa Mesa