The LA Times reports that, Wednesday afternoon, in a meeting with the paper’s editorial board and reporters, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck expressed what he saw as the need for some kind of driver’s licensing for California’s undocumented residents.
While Beck’s thoughts on the topic are exceedingly practical and steeped in…oh, I don’t know…logic and facts, his stand will likely illicit a firestorm of criticism. Nevermind that undocumented people are driving anyway—to get to work and drive their kids to school—thus licensing our residents, legal or not, will make us all safer.
In any case, here’s what the Times reports about what Beck had to say:
“My personal belief is that they should be able to” have licenses, Beck said in response to a question during a meeting with Times’ reporters and editorial writers. “The reality is that all the things that we’ve done – ‘we’ being the state of California – over the last 14, 16 years have not reduced the problem one iota, haven’t reduced undocumented aliens driving without licenses. So we have to look at what we’re doing. When something doesn’t work over and over and over again, my view is that you should reexamine it to see if there is another way that makes more sense.”
Beck said he does not believe licenses for illegal immigrants should be identical to regular ones. Saying “it could be a provisional license, it could be a nonresident license,” he acknowledged that state officials would have to find ways to address widely held concerns that offering licenses to people in the county illegally could make it easier for terrorists go undetected.
For Beck, however, such concerns are outweighed by what he said would be improved safety on California roads and the ability of police to identify the people they encounter. “Why wouldn’t you want to put people through a rigorous testing process? Why wouldn’t you want to better identify people who are going to be here?” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me. And we could increase safety on the roads. When you make things illegal you cause a lot of other things by chain reaction.”
What he said.
Thank you, Chief Charlie.
Chief Beck serves at the pleasure of the Mayor. The Mayor is a supporter of illegals and the “sanctuary city” mentality. Beck is a good man but he’s under the influence of Antonio and will continue to pave the path to legitimacy for the border crashes that are wreaking havoc on the LA/California economy. Antonio is in favor of all the future Deamoncrats he can supply by buying their votes
Well said, AnObserver! A thought further – why aren’t we seeing the LA Mayor and Police Chief advocating enforcement of the existing federal immigration laws, to stem the flow from across the border? Has anyone ever heard of any action by either Villaraigosa or Beck, perhaps flying to Washington to meet with the Attorney General, President or congressional leaders to plead for strengthening immigration law enforcement to at least attempt to prevent the problem from growing larger? Of course not! They can’t be bothered with the chaos caused by continued ignoring of the problem and instead, never miss a beat to roll that welcome mat out further. Oh that’s right – Special Order #40 enhances cooperation from the illegal community when seeking information to solve crimes. Forgot about that.
Point 1 – the Chief of Police and the Sheriff cannot create laws.
Point 2 – Cops are supposed to enforce the law.
Point 3 – The DL suggested closely matches the ID documents Nazi Germany required of Jews, Gypsys, and other “untermenschen” in the 30’s and 40’s. Not exactly equal treatment under the law.
The cops should enforce the law – period. If the legislature and the people want to open our southern border to unlimited migration, then vote it in. Until then, Government has no authority to refuse to enforce laws that are on the books. Write your representatives and tell them to do their job, or get fired in the next election.
I think illegals should be given the opportunity to obtain a DL. The DMV office should be used to lure them in, then ICE can lay in wait, snatch them up, and send them back to where they belong.