It’s endorsement week at the Mercury. That means, for the next few days, we’ll be releasing endorsements in one or more selected races here on Blogtown—building up to our full set of election picks, due out this Wednesday.
Today, we reveal our decision in the race for Measure 88, which would uphold a state law offering drivers’ cards to Oregonians who either can’t or won’t supply documents proving their status as legal residents of the United States.
Which race will we feature tomorrow? Come back to find out. And don’t forget to pick up the paper this Wednesday—that’s tomorrow!—for our entire roster.
- denis c. theriault
- An educational leaflet handed out at the Oregon State Fair.
PLEASE DON’T LET the fear-mongers among us—the nativists, the bigots, the racists, the speak-English-first types, etc.—have their way.
If you vote no on Measure 88, which would allow Oregon to assign driver’s cards to people who can’t (or just won’t) produce documents proving their legal residency in the United States, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.
You’ll be just as horrible as groups like Protect Oregon Drivers Licenses and Oregonians for Immigration Reform, who have been spreading manure piles of misinformation about what’s actually at stake—including some unconscionable references to September 11.
Measure 88 won’t give driver’s licenses to “illegal aliens,” opening the door to waves of terrorism and voter fraud. In fact, it won’t be giving licenses to anybody. The card called for in the measure won’t be considered legal identification. It’ll just be a way to prove someone passed state driving examinations and qualifies for affordable car insurance.
(Hell, you don’t have to be an immigrant to get one. Maybe you can’t find your birth certificate and can’t afford to order one. Maybe you’re a privacy advocate who thinks it’s stupid that driving privileges are tied up with government ID cards. Either way, this is for you, too.)
How do we know the sky won’t fall? For one thing, it’s because we’re rational. But in case you need a bit more convincing, consider this: Ten other states, and Washington, DC, already offer something similar, including nearly every state surrounding Oregon (sorry, Idaho!). Disorder and chaos have yet to descend. In fact, crash rates in New Mexico, which passed its law in 2003, have dropped. And in Utah? Fewer people have resorted to driving without insurance.
And then consider something else: Before 2008, according to backers like the ACLU and immigration rights group CAUSA, Oregon had no issue with handing out actual driver’s licenses—not mere driver’s cards—to people who couldn’t verify their immigration status. You probably had no idea anything had changed.
But some Oregonians have noticed—and that’s why this shouldn’t be seen as another front in America’s immigration wars. Families forced into the shadows—many of them with mixed immigration status, with a parent who’s undocumented and children who are not—would like to be able to drive legally and obtain insurance.
Instead, they’re confronting agonizing choices no one should have to face.
Right now, when a child in one of those families falls ill, parents who’d want to get that child to a doctor must weigh the risk of being pulled over, and possibly winding up flagged for deportation. Or maybe they’ll pass up a job. Or a chance to send their children to a better school.
Those questions would all be eased with a driver’s card—which wouldn’t and couldn’t be allowed as a pretext for Oregon cops to question someone’s immigration status, officials say.
This was all supposed to have been settled a little more than a year ago.
In bipartisan fashion—backed by an unusual coalition of interests including immigrant rights activists and powerful business lobbyists—the Oregon Legislature sent this same program over to Governor John Kitzhaber. And Kitzhaber, bless him, signed that bill, SB 833, even though it might catch him some flak on the campaign trail.
So what happened? Bigots decided to raise thousands of signatures from a minority of Oregonians and put SB 833 on the ballot, where they’d be free to spew some scare tactics and undo something sensible and humane.
The latest polls show they’re winning. Don’t let them. We’re better than that.
Except that most insurance companies require A LICENSE to purchase insurance. By saying this ‘isn’t legal identification’ or ‘a license’, you’re saying there’s ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for anyone who isn’t legally eligible in the first place to get this card.
It’s not ID, and it’s not a license? But they can purchase insurance, which REQUIRES A LICENSE. So.. it is a license?
I don’t agree with this at all. If you’re living in America, go through the process just like EVERYONE ELSE. I had to prove who I was to get my license, every single time I’ve moved to a different state I’ve had to provide my birth certificate and my SS card. I’ve had the DMV both in Hillsboro AND in Denver, Colorado argue that my BIRTH CERTIFICATE is not actually proof, since it is a certified copy from the state of NY.
If they are going to argue about an original copy, from a state that DOES NOT give out the original, then why shouldn’t they argue with the woman who can’t speak English?
Furthermore, Portland, I’m kind-of confused why we’re now promoting DRIVING for people who could easily take Tri-Met and save us thousands of dollars in road repairs each year by reducing the amount of people on the road.
Let the illegal citizens of MY COUNTRY be arrested, detained, ticketted, and told to stay out of fucking vehicles or be sent back to wherever they escaped from.
OK, you did right on this one, Merc. I’m voting YES.
owlslyb is mad.
Nope. Thanks for the opinion though.
I’m rather curious if any other country offers this sort of service for it’s un-documented workers – to include Mexico.
I never had this sort of thing while living in Germany.
I cannot help but think this will help proliferate the amount of illegal workers coming here too.
Also, I am none of these categories “the nativists, the bigots, the racists, the speak-English-first types, etc”
That is a cheap shot Denis.
This measure will go down in flames, overwhelmingly.
You can say you’re not a bigot, frankieb, but your comment shows bigotry. Did you bother to read the article? New Mexico has been doing this for 11 years, and the sky is still firmly in place there. None of the $^%& you crazy people say will be imminent has happened there. Idaho is the only state we border that doesn’t already do this.
The only thing you said that I agree with is that this measure is going to fail, because unfortunately we have too many people in this state that think immigration is a bad thing.
“If you’re living in America, go through the process just like EVERYONE ELSE.”
Yeah, just get your US citizenship already! What are you waiting for? End of discussion.
People you live in Portland, a severely racist, and gentrified major city. It will never pass. How about granting licences back to citizens who can afford to pay the fines, but not the outrageous court cost tacked on to the fine. Let’s take care of our own first, and then if we can afford to help others, do so.
An important point that Denis makes is that many of our immigrant families have mixed citizenship, but a unified need to take care of themselves by getting to jobs, school, appointments. The children of many of these people ARE OREGONIANS…they are “our own”. I see it as unconscionable to make others’ lives difficult because our country as a whole has a need for immigration reform. In the short term, people need to be able to get to their jobs, (and I would prefer to know that they passed a driver’s test and have insurance while they are doing that!). I have a general rule of trying not to oppress my neighbors. Definitely a yes on 88.
Are you folks really so stupid as to not recognize the difference between immigrants and illegal aliens? Think of the difference between a person with a bank account and a bank robber.
Deport ALL illegals…….Tired of these lawbreakers.
If you are for keeping Oregon green, for taking care of the environment, for protecting the wild animals trying to survive against the increasing pressure from human sprawl and a growing human population. Then please vote NO on measure 88 as all it does is increase the rate of population growth in our once green paradise. The only people who are supporting this measure are the cheap labor employers, the racists and the idiots. Denis, I’m going to classify you as an Idiot! Keep Oregon Green and underpopulated, vote NO on 88!