Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Loophole lets wrong people get plates; Immigrants lacking licenses can get them, so what's to stop terrorists?

...“We don't want to help anybody do anything illegal, but all you have to do is fill out a form and pay $11 – and they usually pay cash,” Chief Deputy Recorder Anita Mather said, noting that La Raza filed several of the forms as recently as Friday.

“This is an issue that we're aware of, but our hands are tied,” Bureau of Motor Vehicles spokesman Graig Lubsen said, noting the certificates are normally used to license vehicles owned by legitimate companies, not to people who may or may not have a legal driver's license.

Quinones, meanwhile, said she's just trying to help her clients comply with the law. Some may be here illegally, she said, but all use their real names on the applications. They need to be able to drive, she said, and it's better they do so with legitimate plates and registration. Her organization, which means “the race (or people) united,” was founded in 1999 and has no affiliation with the national organization of the same name, she said. Quinones, who also helps clients with taxes, insurance, English and other needs, estimated she may have helped file 100 certificates with McGauley's office.

State Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, who chairs the body's Committee on Homeland Security, said he was shocked to learn of how easily people can legally obtain license plates, giving them the right to drive with no visible reason to suspect a problem. “This isn't right; it almost defeats everything we're trying to do with homeland security,” he added – including facial-recognition software used to screen applicants for driver's licenses, but not plates.

This story may be about illegal Hispanic immigrants, he said. But the same loophole could just as easily be exploited by terrorists – which is why he got on the phone to a Homeland Security official as soon as I told him what was hiding in plain sight in a seemingly innocuous storefront on Broadway...

[Full Article]
Mexican Illegal Immigrants Faced with Poor Health Care in U.S.

Guanajuato, Mexico (AHN) - Mexican illegal immigrants in the United States face a higher risk of illness and death from limited access to health care, according to a new study announced this week by Mexico’s health ministry. Lack of adequate health care is likely to get worse for them as 26 American states consider legislation to crack down on illegal immigration, according to Mexican health officials.

The Mexicans also endure higher rates of drug addiction, HIV/AIDS and mental health problems when they move to the United States...

[Full Article]
Senators attempt to revive immigration reform debate

Immigration reform took a backseat to health care and economic policy on the congressional agenda this year, but two Democratic Senators aimed to bring it back to the forefront by introducing a new immigration bill last week.

The bill has little chance of succeeding, according to some policy experts. However, a spokeswoman for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who cosponsored the bill with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), said the senators want to start moving immigration reform along before a new Congress convenes in January.

“If there’s an opportunity to move a comprehensive immigration reform bill this Congress, the Senators want to be ready,” said Leahy’s press secretary Erica Chabot...

[Full Article]
"Illegal" Is About Much More Than a Few Missing Documents

As if the Democrats' mad rush to remake America into a third-world colony of Mexico were not bad enough, mindless liberals actually want to scrap the First Amendment by banning use of the term "Illegal Alien."

The PC-preferred term is "undocumented worker" or "undocumented immigrant" which are intended to deliberately skirt the issue of criminal invasion.

However, illegal aliens Are NOT immigrants!...

[Full Article]
Tougher stance urged on illegals

Two women who lost loved ones to illegal aliens driving without licenses begged state senators to pass tougher immigration laws Thursday.

Stephen Rand Rouvet, 21, was killed in a wreck on Ashley Phosphate Road on June 1, 2008. Police said Jesus Magana was driving a borrowed truck with no driver's license. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Rouvet's mother made a passionate plea for tougher laws Thursday at a public hearing in North Charleston City Hall.

"You're witnessing a preventable death by illegal aliens who don't deserve to be in this country," Linda Rouvet told the Senate Judiciary Special Subcommittee on Immigration. "The government's primary job is to protect the people from foreign invasion. ... Please, for God's sake, do something."...

[Full Article]
Illegal immigrant sex offenders arrested in Va, DC

RICHMOND, Va. - State and federal officials this week arrested 15 illegal immigrants who have been convicted of sexual offenses in Virginia and Washington, D.C., and identified another 365 already behind bars who will be deported once they serve their sentences, authorities said Friday.

The 15 illegal immigrants arrested, including several whose crimes were against children or teens, had been convicted of sex crimes but had not previously been targeted for deportation. Thirteen were arrested in Virginia, and two in the nation's capital.

"Sex offenders are simply a scourge and they deserve our full law enforcement attention," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton told reporters at a news conference to announce the results of Operation SOAR, or Sexual Offender Alien Removal...

[Full Article]
Four men arrested for illegal hunting

...Miguel Vergara allegedly told officers he has a visa to be in the United States, but he did not have identification with him. The other three occupants admitted being in the country illegally. Miguel Vergara was booked into the Utah County Jail on charges of wanton destruction of protected wildlife and being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. The other three men were booked on charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and aiding and assisting in the wanton destruction of protected wildlife. All four are being held on a $5,000 cash bail and an immigration hold.

[Full Article]