Frist's Folly

There is no valid reason for any illegal to have a valid driver's licence, none, no matter what anyone says. Illegals should be rounded up and deported, not rewarded with a driver's licence. In this day and age of terror threats, why give ilegals a means of identification? Dick Morris has some things to say about Frist's opposition to preventing illegals from getting licences in his commentary.

April 18, 2005 -- SENATE Majority Leader Bill Frist may have just killed his hopes to be the Republican nominee for president in 2008 — by coming out against a proposal to bar illegal immigrants from getting drivers licenses.

All but one of the 19 9/11 hijackers had a valid drivers license. In a bid to tighten our security, House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wisc.) is pushing legislation to make it illegal for a state to issue a drivers license to an illegal immigrant. At the moment, he's trying to pass it into law as an amendment to the Supplemental Defense Appropriation Bill.

Licenses are the main American form of ID; in our nationwide post-9/11 security upgrade, they have become, in effect, passports for air travel.

So why make it easy for a potential terrorist to get a valid ID? Is it not bad enough that out borders are porous? If there is one issue I am not at all pleased with the Bush adimistration's handling, it is illegal immigration.

The Sensenbrenner bill would require states to ascertain that the applicant is here legally before granting him a drivers license that would be recognized as adequate identification to board an airplane. (States could also offer "soft-ID" licenses, which would not be adequate for air travel.)

Even though this measure is a vital part of our battle against terrorism, liberal Democrats and some big business Republicans are opposing it — the former on civil-liberty grounds, the latter because it would interfere with making money.

Liberal and leftists think all we have to do is sit down and have tea with terrorists and all will be well. Companies hiring illegals should be heavily fined and if there are repeat offenses, perhaps some jail time for company officers. As for those republicans that are knuckling under to these agricultural interests, they should be defeated in primaries by conservatives that are more concerned about the safety of the American people and not the interests of big business.

When I worked for President Clinton, I proposed again and again a ban on licenses to undocumented people. I urged that licenses to non-citizens expire when visas do and that anyone found driving without a license be referred to the INS and the FBI to see if they are here illegally or are on a terror watch list. Clinton, under pressure from liberals, wouldn't agree.

When Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks was pulled over in Florida for driving without a license, he got a summons and was sent on his way, a free man.

Some have described the GOP debate over licenses for illegals as a fault line between the cultural conservatives and business interests. It is really more like a division between those who put protection against terror first — versus those who prefer to curry favor with campaign contributors who want to hire illegal immigrants.

By blocking efforts to attach the license ban to the defense appropriation, Frist is siding with those who put profit ahead of national security.

It is about time that congress get serious about protecting this country and pass both Sensenbrenner's bill and some serious immigration reform. If they cannot do it, then the American people will have to find politicians with the gumption to do so. - Sailor