3,300 Denied Va. Licenses Under New Regulations (in 3 days)

[diamond14]

3,300 Denied Va. Licenses Under New Regulations

By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 8, 2004; Page B01


Almost 3,300 people were turned away by DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) agents in Virginia on the first three business days of the year after a new law took effect requiring license applicants to prove that they are in this country legally, a spokeswoman from the agency said yesterday.

The law, which took effect Jan. 1, requires people applying for a driver's license or renewing an expired one to prove that they are not illegal immigrants. For U.S. citizens, that means little more than presenting a birth certificate or passport. Foreign-born residents, on the other hand, have a harder time demonstrating their status because they must present immigration papers that can sometimes take more than a year to get from the federal government.

The General Assembly passed the bill last year after reports surfaced that several of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists illegally obtained Virginia licenses and then used them as proof of identification at airports and flight schools.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63246-2004Jan7.html

[bobbieinok]

1. how many native born Americans have a birth certificate or

passport handy????

[Q3JR4]

2. Not me.

Then again I don't live in VA.

[mike_c]

5. more would if more traveled abroad rather than thinking...

...that the world begins and ends in the U.S.

[diamond14]

3. the Federal Government did not follow through here at all....

just like the international flights, where a small group of suspected terrorists could be picked up by police for further investigation.....here in Virginia, there has been zero effort by shrub's administration to follow through on this select group of potentially illegal immigrants, who actually walked into the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles....just like the 9/11 terrorists did....

instead of harrassing Americans continuously, why not focus some effort on small groups, like this group, pre-screened by Virginia?....instead, DMV just sent them all home to get further documentation, or to just 'disappear'....

the Department of Homeland Security seems to be failing on all fronts...it took shrub TWO years to fund Virginia DMV effort, and now, they just ignore any potential illegal immigrants...

66,000 went thru DMV in three days...and 1 in 20, were unable to document their legal status (3300 people)...why not leave the rest of us alone, and focus terrorism ID on those who cannot properly document that they are in America LEGALLY?...there is a great BIG Immigration Detention and deportation center right here in Alexandria. Virginia ...seems the shrub has NO IDEA about Homeland Security...

[DuctapeFatwa]

4. Wait till the first lawsuit hits

brought by families of victims who were killed/maimed/paralyzed by drunk and or/inept undocumented drivers.

A driver's license is the ONLY accountability a state can have for large numbers of mostly young boys between 17 and 23, away from home for the first time, frequently from rural areas.

Without a driver's license, they can simply walk away, change car, change name, no insurance required.

[Mika]

6. This started in Florida in 2002

Of course, there is no such thing as a Cuban illegal immigrant, no matter how illegally they get here, since 1962 (due to the US's Cuban Adjustment Act).