The Washington Times
The Bush administration yesterday strongly endorsed a bill to crack down on illegal aliens' use of driver's licenses and tighten asylum and deportation procedures, giving the measure a boost as debate began on the House floor and in anticipation of a final vote today.
"The legislation tightens procedures for noncitizen entry into and presence in the United States, facilitates the building of physical barriers where appropriate to protect U.S. borders, and facilitates the strengthening by the states of the standards for the security and integrity of driver's licenses," the administration said in a statement of policy.
House Republicans said they expect the bill, sponsored by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to pass the House today. Mr. Sensenbrenner said he has a commitment from House leaders to then attach the bill to the first "must-pass" piece of legislation to leave the House, which at this point appears to be the soon-to-be-submitted emergency-spending bill for the war in Iraq.
The key provision is the crackdown on illegal aliens' ability to obtain and use driver's licenses as identification.
About a dozen states currently allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses and the bill does not mandate that they change. But it says any ID used for federal purposes, such as boarding an airplane, must be obtainable only by someone lawfully present in the country.
Posted by Suzanne at February 10, 2005