Reader comments
Driving cards under fire

Repeal the driving priveledges, revoke all perks to illegal aliens and DEPORT every single man, woman and child NOW!

What part of illegal does Utah not understand?

And all of this because we can't come up with a Federal government (where responsibility for immigration, legal and otherwise, rests) that can figure out how to fix this decades-old problem.

Worst of all, this problem isn't the biggest or worst (by a long shot) we, as a nation, face.

National competance MUST include governmental competance.

Utah, unwittingly, exasberated the problem of illegal aliens migrating to Utah through the issuance of Driver Privilege Cards. As one of 7 states that allow illegals privileges, it has become a magnet for illegals. To comply with the REAL ID ACT, Utah has it's work cut out for it.
The stupid arguments made by some "issuing a DPC will let 'us' know who they are"; "they will buy insurance for their car", "make the roads safer".
These and other arguments are absolutely naive and/or bogus.
Illegals use fraud to get IDs in the first place. Hit and Run...still common; Insurance, sure for getting their car registered, then they cancel it.
And what of the Driver's Licenses issued to illegals with a Tax ID Number...the numbers start with 9xx-xx-xxxx ? They are still out there, and valid, but being used by illegals.
The state needs to start from scratch...verify IDs and social security numbers, similiar to the requirements placed on employers. IF the the ID can't be verified, license is revoked. Period.
Illegals DO NOT have a right to driving privileges. Nor do they have a 'right' to any services designed for citizens.

Someone needs to make a presentation to our lawmakers to define the words aiding, abetting, harboring, unlawful presence, illegal...It seems like such an easy concept to the VOTERS. Why are they having all this trouble with it?
Perhaps a visit with Elliot Spitzer, Gov of New York, might help as well.
The people who put you in office don't want you to grant driving privileges to illegal aliens.

useing the cards ILLEAGLLY? What do you ecpect from someone who is already vommitting a criminal act! What a joke, All this has done is entice these ILLEGALS to be here. The Federal Immigration Act makes it ILLEGAL to ENTICE anyone ot come or stay in the United States .
Go out and pick up the drivers cards and while at it. pick up the holders who are ILLEGAL

Forget legal or illegal for the moment. Driving is an activity that we do not allow without a license, and we do not grant that license unless we are reasonably certain who we are giving it to and how old they are. If we are sure enough of their identity to allow them to drive on our roads, it only makes sense to allow them to use their driver license/permit cards to be used for ANY identification purpose that is LESS important than the need to know who is driving on our roads. And frankly, maybe with the exception of obtaining citizenship, that's just about every purpose I can think of.

It is just not a crisis that illegals, or anyone else, may be using their driver cards to legally purchase a beer!

Someone needs to tell Mr. Daw that it is ILLEGAL to drive without insurance. He asks, "if I'm dirving without insurance and get in a wreck, who pays for it?" YOU DO, after you pay your fine and/or do jail time. Don't provide for one illegal activity (sneaking in to the country) by more easily fascilitating another illegal activity (driving without insurance).

It seems that Utah lawmakers do not understand that the citizens of the state of Utah want our illegal immigrant crisis solved. This means work place identification and verification, resident status verified upon detention or arrest, requiring English as the official language for doing busisness with all government entities (Isn't that the law now?) and denial of all but emergency services to illegal residents. Some may say this is harsh and uncaring. However, ignoring law breakers is not in the public interest. Identity theft costs millions of dollars to citizens and the public at large. Crimes committed by illegal immigrants comprise a large portion of the total number of crimes reported and investigated by law enforcement agencies. Our schools and health care systems are nearly broken as a result of the influx of illegal immigrants. Human costs to illegal immigrants of fear and danger of abuse from predators takling advantage of them is great. The bottom line is that failure to stem the tide of illegal immigration is causing pain, suffering, hardship and monetary costs for all citizens and illegal immigrants alike. Stop it and discontinue facilitation of illegals residing here in America. No more Mr. Nice Guy!

I'll tell you,

What a bunch of selfish, mean-spirited, angry, mob-like mentalities spew their ignorance on these sites.

There are many people (immigrants) that came here just to survive. US policy has created this problem.

On one hand our government says they cannot work. On the other hand, they hand out tax ID numbers (so they can work).

Then, the Government doesn't want to take responsisbilty, now they want the BUSINESSES to be the watchdog. Do you want to spend thousands of dollars to do the Federal Government's job?

Now, they want the police, who protect your home and family, to start finding Illegal immigrants! Are you going to stand for this?

I have a wife, here illegally. When she came, this immigration stuff was not on the radar. We met, married, and had NO IDEA what a mess was coming for our family.

She applied THREE times to come legally. They took her money (a fortune for her) each time, then said NO.

Brothers and Sisters...we need some rationalism and compassion right now. Please.

They are NOT all CRIMINALS.

Now we have two daughters married to US citizens also. Now what? Compassion.

The easier a community makes if for illegal immigrants to live a legal life, more and more illegal immigrants will move into the community.

Samhill, the quality that you think the government lacks is spelled "competence."

As someone who has been in a car accident and hit by an illegal immigrant driver, who did of course did not have insurance.
I agree, repeal their driving priveleges. It's unfair to any American Citizen who obeys the laws and has insurance. To have to pay for someone who shouldn't be here anyways.
Why we give them any rights beyond working priveleges is beyond me.
If we take away their driving priveleges, then maybe they will get the hint to either leave the state or go through the legal routes and apply for citizenship.
It may be possible that if we revoke their driving priveleges maybe in time less accidents with uninsured drivers will mean lower car insurance rates for the rest of us? Wishful thinking I suppose...

I think the system as is works great. Economic disparity means we get plenty of people willing to come work at a disadvantage, and illegal status means we can send them home as soon as they are economically burdensome. We have a convenient low cost workforce with no legal protections. Who would want to change that?

Like Orwell taught us - make everything (one) illegal and we (the government) have a pretext to do whatever we want with them.

As someone who has been in a car accident with an uninsured motorist who, of course, might have been an illegal immigrant, I say we should deport everyone who drives while uninsured. They are illegal after all.

I've been hit twice by illegal aliens (presumably, because neither cound speak passable English). Neither had auto insurance. One went so far as to provide false contact and insurance information. (The insurance card belonged to someone else and had been expired for a year.) I ended up tracking him down from his license plate. After a disconcerting "conversation" he sent me a letter about his daughter being sick and that he was unable to pay. I don't have a lot of money myself, but here I am, stuck with a crashed-in quarter panel and bent door. My car was stationary, at a gas-pump when this guy hit it, by the way.

I have nothing against people who want to work. But they need to respect our process, and abide by our standards. I've been to over 13 states in Mexico. I loved them all, but would never wish their safety standards upon us here in the U.S. Enough of these ham-handed measures to inconvenience illegal immigrants. They should be forced to leave or forfeit the right to stay permanently.

"Illegal." "Undocumented." Sounds like a no-brainer to me. You either do things the right way, the legal way, or you have NO privileges. Period.

We shouldn't be finding ways for illegal and undocumented people to get things such as driving cards and insurance. They should not be driving a motor vehicle if they don't have a valid driver's license. They should go through the proper steps just as U.S. citizens have, or those who are here LEGALLY and DOCUMENTED. We welcome with open arms all who are legal and documented. Every privilege is yours. If you're not, then there's the door.

It's quite simple, really.

I wonder if a soul, when received in heaven, is identified as legal or illegal?

Moses was told very clearly to welcome the aliens outside the borders of Israel, and Jesus said ALL of His father's created beings were of equal status in His eyes.

But not so here in our land. We collectively see the brown skin and hear the foreign tongue and assume superiority - that our lives' and souls hold more value than theirs. Us and them. Wealth and poverty. Divide and conquer. Sad.

I believe the point of the driving privilege card was to solve some of the uninsured problem, given that we aren't going to immediately solve the illegal resident problem. I don't see how eliminating the card is going to help people like those on this forum who commented about being hit by uninsured illegal residents.

One idea would be to keep the cards, but say that illegal residents caught driving uninsured will be detained and turned over to INS. Then again, this might just encourage more hit and run.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free; send these, the homeless tempest-tossed, to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

We so often forget what has made us great.