News and Observer (North Carolina)
By Bruce Siceloff
June 9, 2015
After
hearing qualms from the Highway Patrol and opposition from Gov. Pat
McCrory, a House Finance Committee Tuesday approved legislation to
identify North Carolina residents
who are in the U.S. illegally and allow them to drive legally.
The
bill, now headed to the House floor, would let the state issue ID cards
and restricted driving permits for tens of thousands of immigrants.
“What
this does is document the undocumented,” said Rep. Nelson Dollar, a
Wake County Republican. “We would actually know who somebody is and
where they are.”
Immigrants
who now cannot drive legally would be eligible for one-year driving
permits after submitting to criminal background checks, paying in
advance for insurance
coverage and passing state driving tests. Applicants would bear the
program’s cost by paying an estimated $60 fee to a private
fingerprinting company and an estimated $60 fee to the state Division of
Motor Vehicles.
A spokesman for McCrory said the governor opposes the legislation.
“He
is concerned with the provision providing driving privileges to those
who are in this country unlawfully,” Ryan Minto, McCrory’s legislative
lobbyist, told the committee.
The
Finance Committee voted 22-11 to approve House Bill 328. Its sponsor,
Rep. Harry Warren, said he will schedule a House floor vote “when I am
fairly confident that
I know where the Senate’s position is on it.”
Although
several committee members said they doubted the bill could survive in
the Senate or overcome McCrory’s opposition, Warren was optimistic.
“We’ve
seen the governor change his position on bills as they go through the
legislative process,” Warren, a Republican from Salisbury, said later.
“It still has to go
through the Senate. It could be subjected to some changes, and if it
is, perhaps one of those changes would be acceptable to the governor.”
House
Bill 328 includes punitive measures intended as incentives for
immigrants to apply for permits. If immigrants here illegally were
caught driving without permits,
police could put them in jail and seize their cars.
Col. Bill Grey, commander of the state Highway Patrol, worried about extra work for state troopers.
“When
you’re impounding every … car with no insurance showing, that is a lot
of man hours to sit there and wait 45 minutes to an hour and a half for a
wrecker to come
get the vehicle,” Grey told the committee. “And then, of course, you
have to ensure the safety of the driver and the passengers you’re
removing from that vehicle. At 3 o’clock in the morning in rural North
Carolina, there’s very little that you can do for
those people to ensure their safety.”
But
Fred Baggett, speaking for the N.C. Association of Chiefs of Police,
said the bill would help law enforcement officers identify people here
illegally.
“There
are tens of thousands of drivers every day on the streets and highways
of North Carolina without valid identification,” Baggett said. “Police
officers who investigate
crimes, victimization and so forth need identification for
perpetrators, for victims, for witnesses, and for many other reasons.”
Rep.
Bert Jones, a Rockingham Republican, echoed other opponents when he
said the legislation offered undeserved benefits for people “who are
committing a crime by being
illegally in the United States.”
Supporters
blamed the federal government but said North Carolina must face
problems related to the presence of an estimated 325,000 immigrants here
illegally.
“This
is a conversation we have to have,” said Rep. Mike Hager, a Rutherford
County Republican. “It’s not something that’s going to go away. It’s not
something the federal
government is willing to fix, it looks like.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment