The Veto of the Driver’s License Bill

In reference to the governor’s veto of the bill to permit illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, Sept. 23: If the purpose is to discourage illegal immigration, the bill should be rewritten to take the driver’s licenses away from those found hiring illegal immigrants.

If there really is a problem with illegal immigration, the cause is not with the poverty-stricken who come here to work but with the rich already here who want to get richer by hiring them at substandard wages without benefits, then dumping them on the taxpayers for the costs of the social services they use.

We should turn our view from the window to the mirror.

Roger West

Seal Beach

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Why should California issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants when U.S. citizens must obtain international driver’s licenses to drive in other countries? Let’s assume these people are legally licensed to drive in their own country. Couldn’t the problems be solved by a visit to the consulate’s office?

Richard Deight

Buena Park

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The decision by the governor not to sign the driver’s license bill goes against a promise that he made last year to state Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) that he would find a means to common ground on such a bill. Not only did he veto the bill, but he did not offer any suggestions as to how the bill could be improved.

At least 10 states, including Florida, have seen the importance of instituting some type of driver’s license for immigrants. This bill would have benefited thousands of immigrants of all colors as well as the residents who depend on their labor in California. It is clear that the governor is not interested in the thousands of people who marched, phoned and rallied in support of the bill. It is important to make a statement to the governor by continuing to organize our communities and to ensure their voting power in future elections.

Jose Calderon

President

Inland Valley/ San Gabriel

Valley Latino Roundtable

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Does Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger really care about security? What’s worse, having immigrants registered as licensed drivers or having them run around without anyone knowing who they are? Now that’s a real security concern. I think Arnold the hypocrite forgot he was once an immigrant. Change the Constitution so Arnold can run for president? I don’t think so; some terrorist may try to run for president. It’s a security concern.

Vincent Guerrero

North Hollywood

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Three cheers to our governor for standing up to the Democrats who persist in pandering to the undocumented aliens. Only he and the Republican Assembly are addressing the concerns of California’s citizens.

Susan Campbell

Los Angeles

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As we mark the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, I find George Skelton’s Sept. 23 column, “Maybe It’s Time for Cedillo to Let Arnold Take the Wheel,” strikes a negative chord. Skelton totally misses the point when he implies that it does not matter if driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants are colored because they will be in someone’s wallet hidden from view, unlike the yellow Star of David that Jews of Nazi Europe were forced to display prominently.

In comparing these distinguishable driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants to that of a symbol of persecution, he belittles the plight of the Jews in Europe during the reign of Nazi terror. I am sure that he need not be reminded that, for the most part, these Jews were legal citizens of these lands. Were the borders of countries free of Nazi occupiers as porous as those of the United States today, many Jews would not have perished.

Judy Sherman

Northridge