by Brujo Blanco

major burning question for the majority of the states is the problems associated with illegal immigration. Maryland has a major problem and I believe it stems from the fact that this is a real easy state for a person to get a driver’s license. Keep in mind that many of the illegals that have obtained driver’s licenses in Maryland have done so with no identification at all.

About six months ago I had some business at MVA and I spoke to someone there. I was

informed that MVA is granting great deal of latitude to Hispanics that come in for licenses. It appears as though they do not have to meet the same requirements as the rest of us. She told me that they do not have to provide birth certificates or valid social security numbers for the records. I was reading an article in the Examiner.com, Md. lawmakers face immigration questions when they return to work by Kristen Wyatt, December 24, 2006. Overall this was a good article however I took issue with portions of this article.

One of the questions being raised in this article is whether or not Maryland, under Martin O’Malley, will comply with the federal law which establish standards for issuing driver’s licenses. To me this is a no brainer. O’Malley, by law, has to enforce all the laws. He is required to obey the law.

It is unfortunate that I believe the answer is that O’Malley is likely to side with illegals and assist them in their mission to break our laws. One of the members of the O’Malley transition teams is Gustavo Torres who runs Casa de Maryland. This is the organization that is conspiring successfully to break our country’s immigration laws. His organization receives government money for these projects. What is he doing on the transition team?

This article also mentions that Jorge Ribas, president of the Greater Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who supports allowing individuals to obtain licenses without citizenship. I have news for Jorge citizenship is not required in any state for a driver’s license. One is only required to be here legally. A resident alien can get a license just like the rest of us.

Keep in mind that the whole thrust of the federal legislation is to prevent terrorists and other such criminals from obtaining bonafide identification to further their mission.

In this same article Democratic Senator John Astle of Anne Arundel County claims that it is the “guys down in Washington are really the ones that need to get a handle on this immigration stuff.” There is no point in passing laws that are going to be ignored by the states. States that do not comply with important legislation need to be cut from federal support when it comes to money.

There is a problem when people in government decide they want to cherry pick which laws to enforce and which laws not to support. If we do not enforce immigration laws and allow all to enter this country when they want to and in high numbers we will reach a saturation point. At that point we will not be able to sustain these illegals. When the illegals come here to work generally they are not on the books. Therefore officially they are not employed. This means they are constructively eligible to be placed on the dole. There are those in state and federal government that want to provide these illegals with social security benefits even though they have put nothing into the system. Social Security is a system that has projected shortfalls for the individuals that have contributed to the fund.

My overall solution to this problem is enforcement of laws on the books. Deportation of illegals as they are found, prosecution of those that provided false identification, prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegals, and asset seizures levied against such employers. Also, put the employers in jail as appropriate.

PS: The Maryland chapter of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, mentioned in the article, supports across the board enforcement. This organization is not made up of gun toting whackos. They conduct backgrounds on prospective members and they have a policy of not breaking any laws. Stephen Schreiman the state director of this organization is a good man. His group needs legislative support and hopefully they will get it.