Originally published October 10 2014
Colorado plans to issue driver's licenses to thousands of illegal immigrants
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans a) do not support providing amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and b) do not support conferring American rights to them, liberals in some states are falling all over themselves to provide legal protections and benefits to scores of people who broke U.S. law to get here.
One of those states is Colorado, where officials have decided that they will begin issuing driver's licenses and other forms of identification to immigrants regardless of their legal status, "underscoring a sea change in a state that less than a decade ago passed strict immigration enforcement laws," The Associated Press (AP) reported.
As such, thousands of immigrants are now waiting to get ID cards and licenses that they will no doubt use to claim legitimacy in the state. So far, AP reported, about 9,500 people are signed up for appointments in the coming three-month period to get cards and other ID-related documents, and Colorado officials report that more are signing up every day. Those in the country legally, with temporary status, and illegally as well, qualify:
The demand for the licenses and identification cards has been tremendous, with the state's website for appointments crashing at one point because of traffic, and immigrant advocates urging officials to add more locations where people can go. So far, appointments are being handled at only five locations -- Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Grand Junction.
Several states now granting licenses to illegals
Not long ago, it was a pipe dream -- in Colorado and every other U.S. state -- for illegal immigrants to believe they could somehow become legitimized without going through the proper federal process of either gaining citizenship or at least temporary legal status. In Colorado, Democrats and Republicans got together in 2006 to pass a law cracking down on illegal immigration, one in which law enforcement officers were required to notify federal authorities when they arrested anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.
But that was a different time; it was five years after 19 foreign terrorists, some of whom were illegal immigrants, hijacked four airliners, crashing three into buildings in New York City and Washington, D.C. That law in Colorado, by the way, has since been repealed.
And last year, Colorado was one of eight other states that passed legislation allowing identification for people who were in the country illegally -- again, in defiance of federal law and immigration requirements. Four of those states -- New Mexico, Washington, Illinois and Nevada -- have already begun issuing documents to illegals; California plans to begin in January 2015. Oregon has a ballot initiative that would okay handing driver's licenses to illegals in November, National Review reported.
"The changes we've seen in Colorado are absolutely remarkable and really reflect a turning of the tide in the debate on what immigration means and how immigrants are viewed, not only in Colorado but in the country," said Hans Meyer, a Denver-based immigration attorney who was involved in crafting the new law.
Brand-new Democrats?
Nevertheless, though they are dramatically underreported in the mainstream media, there are scores of critics of Colorado's and the other states' IDs-for-illegals laws.
"You reward illegal behavior, you beget more illegal behavior," said Colorado state Sen. Ted Harvey, a Republican.
The cards can't be used to vote or to gain federal benefits, but clearly if some liberals in these states could change those rules, they would, as evidenced by New York State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Democrat, who introduced legislation recently that would convey a host of benefits to illegals, including the right to vote.
Studies have shown that immigrants overwhelming vote Democrat, so it is no surprise that that party is working overtime to convey rights and privileges to them that should only be granted to U.S. citizens.
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com
http://www.washingtontimes.com
http://www.bloomberg.com
http://www.nationalreview.com
http://hotair.com
http://www.fairus.org
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