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October 12, 2007
Joe To Dubya: Use ICE Agents Against Illegal Alien Coddler Eliot
Spitzer
By Joe
Guzzardi
Last week, I filed my second column in as many weeks
(read them
here and
here) about New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his
edict that illegal aliens will, effective December 1st,
qualify for driver’s licenses.
I told myself that I had written all that I had to say about
the subject.
But I was wrong. After I monitored the explosive story for
one more week, spoke to
Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola who is bucking Spitzer
by refusing to give licenses to aliens and consulted with
VDARE.COM’s “Anonymous
Attorney”, I realized that there is much more to report.
[Lawmakers
Debate Driver’s License Plan, By Kenneth C. Crowe II and
Paul Nelson, Albany Times Union, October 8, 2007]
After analyzing all the information, I have come to the
somewhat surprising conclusion that, whatever the ultimate
outcome may be in New York, Spitzer’s treasonous behavior
represents a win—and a huge one—for
patriotic immigration reformers.
To begin at the beginning, I view the
chaos surrounding driver’s licenses for aliens through the
eyes of someone who, with
twenty years of experience in fighting for patriotic reform,
has seen little if any evidence that government can
successfully implement any immigration program that
allegedly benefits us.
Instead we have seen one immigration
failure follow another and heard
promises made to us
broken with impunity.
Spitzer’s decree that he will allow
New York illegal aliens to get licenses —the most blatant
disregard for immigration law I’ve witnessed over two
decades—will not be any different.
Spitzer vows that New York roads will be safer because the
newly licensed will buy
insurance—but with what money? And he pledges that licenses
in the hands of aliens will enhance security—but how? All of the
9/11 terrorists would qualify under Spitzer’s plan.
As we skeptics have learned the hard way,
talk is cheap.
Spitzer’s dream hinges on two variables both of which are
deeply flawed:
- Will the new
“equipment” to be installed at DMV offices assist clerks
(“specially trained”) to verify the authenticity of a
foreign passport really work?
That is, is the passport presented from, for example, a
person claiming to be from
Uganda, real or fraudulent? Proponents insist that the
technology, provided by
L-1 Identity Solutions, is failsafe. But last
week, Wayne County clerk, Michael Jankowski, derisively referred
to the document scanners as a "magic box coming down from
Albany" and said details about the specifics had not yet
reached his office.[
Spitzer’s Plan Hit on Timing, Technology, By Benjamin
Sarlin, New York Sun, October 10, 2007]
Whether the scanners are effective or not, many doubt that
they will be in place before the December deadline. And most
detractors agree that hurry-up training given to clerks, such as
it may be, will be inadequate.
As Merola told me, “As great as our DMV employees are,
they have never had any experience in foreign document checks.”
That, Merola added, is an ICE responsibility. And, Merola
continued, “even if the passports are current and valid, the
holder of them
may well be an illegal alien.”
- Will aliens be able to
satisfy New York’s six points of identification requirement?
The foreign passport, if certified as legitimate, represents
three of the necessary six points to qualify for a license. The
balance of the needed points can come from a mish-mash of
identification easily cooked up: a U.S.
high school ID card or a
report card (two points); a
utility bill (one point); a
supermarket check cashing card (one) or a cancelled check
with the name pre-printed on its face (one). Read the entire
list
here.
New York’s current list of
46 items deemed as acceptable I.D. will soon be expanded to
60. The exact details are not clear since, like everything else
about Spitzer’s legislation, sessions are held behind closed
doors. But the purpose of a longer list obviously makes it
easier for an alien to qualify.
Rumored among the documents to be added are prison parole
papers - thus making an illegal alien convicted felon
eligible. [Spitzer
Aims to ‘Persuade Ray Kelly To Back License Plan, Joe
Mahoney and Frank Lombardi, New York Daily News, October
9, 2007]
In addition to coddling illegal immigrants, Spitzer’s plan
insults Americans who,
unlike aliens, must present
social security cards (two points). And according to
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., author of the
REAL ID Act, Spitzer’s proposal will require citizens to get
a passport costing $97.00 to travel domestically by air.
Sensenbrenner said that citizens and green card holders:
“should be legitimately outraged.”
Two final indignities: aliens will be issued a license
identical to those given to citizens. And, as Merola told me, to
ease any inconvenience aliens might experience in the obtaining
a license, they will be able to make DMV appointments for
processing their application.
As with every immigration indignity, the
failure of the federal government is glaring…and Spitzer is
playing that card to cover up his own pathetic butt.
Imagine Spitzer’s audacity when he claims that his policy
evolves
from Bush’s failures. Talk about passing the buck!
Said Spitzer:
“Let me be very clear about
something —they, in Washington, have created a debacle. By
failing to enforce the immigration laws for 20 years, we now
have a million people in New York State whose immigration
status may be a bit unclear. [emphasis added]
“The president is living in a fog
where he would prefer that we in New York State ignore the
reality. I as governor, as a prosecutor, am going to ensure the
security of this state, and that’s what this plan does.[
Spitzer
Unbowed by Critics of License Plan, By Robert J.
McCarthy, Buffalo News, October 11, 2007]
Of course, in this case, Spitzer is 100 percent correct. But
to Bush, those should be fighting words. They’re not though,
since Spitzer is protecting Bush’s beloved illegal aliens.
Think about Spitzer’s gall. Here we have the liberal
Democratic governor of a northeastern state telling a
self-described conservative Republican
Texas president that his federal government has failed and
he, personally, is “in a fog.”
Bush’s reaction: nothing.
What Bush should do—to teach Spitzer manners, if no other
reason—is:
Let the word go forth from his
Oval Office that ICE agents should be randomly sent to various
New York DMV offices—perhaps Queens in the morning and maybe the
Bronx in the afternoon—and stand around with their big, black
jackets that say “Police
ICE”.
The agents don’t necessarily have to DO anything. They can
just hang around
sipping coffee.
Let’s see how many illegal aliens come ahead while feds are
standing in the lobby.
Well – why not?
Here’s the good news. Whatever happens from here on, Spitzer
has already lost.
Fellow Democrats like
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former
Mayor Ed Koch and Suffolk County Executive
Steve Levy oppose him as do many Democratic state senators
and assemblymen.
The Republican State Senate, led by Martin Golden, will file
legal action against Spitzer to force him to drop his plan. And
clerks statewide, joining with Merola, insist they will not
comply.
New York Representative
Peter King (R)
predicted:
“I think he's going to have to
back down, even though he's a pretty stubborn guy. I know it's
going to overwhelmingly pass the Senate, overriding his action.”
On any level, a Spitzer defeat is a triumph for us. Looking
at the big picture, the Spitzer fiasco sends the clear message
to all other governors who might in their delusional dreams
envision licenses for aliens as a winning political policy. They
now know that it is a gross political error with serious,
potentially career-ending ramifications.
I asked our
“Anonymous Attorney” to comment on the following
Spitzer outburst against
Bloomberg when the mayor expressed reservations.
Bloomberg:
"I'm really skeptical that we
should be issuing
driver's licenses willy-nilly because it then leads to
lots of other problems. But it's the governor's call."
Spitzer:
"He is wrong at every level—dead
wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically
wrong." [Spitzer
Blasts Bloomberg For Questioning Driver’s License Plan,
Kirsten Danis, Daily News, September 28, 2007]
Anonymous Attorney:
"Bloomberg was probably trying to
invoke 9/11, which is good, but the real issue is that driver's
licenses for illegals is just another affirmation of the illegal
alien surge by the power elite.
“What Spitzer really means is
that it's immoral and unethical not to coddle illegals, and on
that point, he's the one who's dead wrong."
That’s why Spitzer is going to take the fall. He’s wrong and
none of his bombast and rhetoric can make him right.
Joe Guzzardi [e-mail
him] is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor.
In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has
been writing
a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive
to
VDARE.COM. |
