NC laws against illegals actually worse for all of us

[Larry_OHF]

I was talking to an illegal friend about the new law that NC has started this year which prohibits anyone from getting a driver's license unless they can prove residency with a valid SS card or other papers of legality in the country. This is affecting everyone I know who are illegals because they realize that once their licenses expire, they cannot renew them and for one friend's daughter, she is 15 but not allowed to take driver's education classes in school nor get a permit.

This was a state govt. way to react to the fact that more Hispanics come to NC due to our previous laws which made it terribly easy to get a license without documentation. Now, they do not have an incentive. But what about those that are here now? What will they do to get around? How will they keep their jobs?

The answer was given to me yesterday. Rigoberto told me that people have to drive, and for the longest time, he and most everyone he knows does not bother with car insurance. Now, they are forced to drive without a license, and if they are involved in an accident, they will try to escape, but in the end, with no license how would the cops know who they've got anyway? Therefore, there is no need for a license because how often do cops create license check stops? I thought about that and realized that the first and only one I have ever been through was in 1993.

I think that this law will merely create more drivers with no license and no way at all to hold anyone liable for accidents that occur because the few Hispanics that were actually maintaining insurance will now have to drop their coverage, because in order to have insurance, you have to have a license.

I was actually looking at a job with Nationwide Insurance because they are begging for a bilingual office manager, but if Hispanics are not going to be getting insurance in the future, then I have no future with that career.

I am just glad I learned this now, before taking the job.

[ 02-12-2007, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

Now, a question. What are the laws in your state in regards to obtaining a license and what do you think the Hispanics in your area are doing? Do they have legal licenses? Do they have auto insurance to cover the cost of your car when they wreck into you?

From what I understand, only in Maryland can you get a license now without legal documents. Will this mean that we'll see a huge increase of illegals in Maryland soon?

[ 02-12-2007, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Timber Loftis]

As your friend indicated, they're going to be uninsured anyway, so it doesn't make much difference if they're unlicensed.

But of course it does give them slightly increased incentive to commit identity theft.

This is a problem that should be dealt with by getting rid of illegals, not by catering to their needs.

[PurpleXVI]

Getting rid of them is impossible, so instead of wishing for a giant wall and a "shoot on sight"-policy, give them incentives to stay at home, destroy US businesses' reasons to hire them or find some way to make them legal, contributing members of society rather than, as you percieve them, "leeches."

[Timber Loftis]

I agree with giving them reasons to stay home and taking away business incentives to subvert the rule, but I see no reason why we should give the ones that are here a freebie pass when so many immigrants have worked to come here legally.

There is no reason not to round them up and ship them home. All it takes is the political decision to do so. INS at one time would actually round up illegals. But for 20 years they've been doing nothing.

[Larry_OHF]

TL: True enough. I was mentioning somewhere else that businesses are catering to Hispanics now because as I was walking down the cake mix isle at Food Lion, I cannot remember if it was Pillsbury or Duncan Hines boxes all had "Instucciones en español!" written on the front. What is hilarious is that first and many second-generation Hispanics hate American sweet-tooth ideals and are not attracted to cakes and cookies that are "American". If they buy cake mix, the lady of the house will most likely be making it without caring about the instuctions because Hispanics culturally do not use measuring utensils, nor do they follow instructions written on paper. Only those children who are born in the US will have a US sweet tooth and they will also speak enough english to not need the instructions in spanish.

Foolish marketing people for that company, I say.

Boy...I took my own thread on a tangent, and so early on!

My point was...we are bending over backwards to make them feel comfortable here, yet not actually trying to understand them. Our markets are still expecting them to become Americans, but from what I have seen...first-hand inside these people's homes...that is not the Hispanics' plan at all.

[robertthebard]

On the topic, I don't think it matters. They are illegal, and if the insurance company wanted to, they could bow out, citing the fact that the person who got the insurance is a legal resident of another country, and not subject to our laws anyway. I don't know how far they would get, but by the time you hire an attorney to fight them, even if you win, your car still isn't getting fixed.

Simple facts:

1. Illegal means in violation of existing laws.

2. Driving w/out a license is a crime, thus compounding 1.

3. Driving w/out insurance is also a crime, in so far as I know, further compounding 1, and we can't put them in jail, since they aren't US Citizens.

Simple solution, as TL said, and I have said before now, send them home.

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by robertthebard: and we can't put them in jail, since they aren't US Citizens.

Not true. We certainly can jail them. But from what I've seen in court, they're all the ones with $500 in their sock in cash who want to know what it will take for them to just pay a fine and walk out.

[Bungleau]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: I was actually looking at a job with Nationwide Insurance because they are begging for a bilingual office manager, but if Hispanics are not going to be getting insurance in the future, then I have no future with that career. I am just glad I learned this now, before taking the job.

Slight miscalculation, Larry. You've leapt to the conclusion that all Hispanics are illegals, which is not true. According to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center, illegal immigrants represented less than a third of the 35.7 million immigrants in the US (circa 2004). There were more legal permanent residents and naturalized citizens than illegal immigrants, and temporary legal residents and refugees made up the balance (totalling 10% of the population between them). Hispanics do make up a large percentage (about 80%) of those 10.3 million illegal immigrants, but with there being about 35.2 million Hispanics in the US as of the 2000 census, that makes about 8 million, or less than one in 4, who's here illegally.

That leaves about 27 million Hispanics with drivers licenses and a need for insurance, and even if you cut the number in half (arbitrarily, to weed out the kids), you've still got 13.5 million waiting in line for you at Nationwide [img]smile.gif[/img]

That said, my experience is that politicians put a lot more faith into that piece of plastic called a driver's license than most other people do. Drunks still drive (drunk!) without it, people who've lost it still drive around... the loss of that ID card means little. Yes, it complicates things, but making it harder to get won't stop anyone.

[Larry_OHF]

Not at all a miscalculation...rather that maybe facts on paper do not truely represent facts in reality or maybe location of concentrated illegals is higher in some places than in others. Numbers and estimations aside, I live in Winston-Salem, near a side of town what is called "Little Mexico". There, you'd think you were in Mexico, driving down the three main streets and several side streets because every house and apartment complex appears to be Hispanic. All the resturants and stores have spanish signage primarily. Being that I not only know about 200-300 of them from the time I used to work in a factory with them three to five years ago, I also attend a Spanish-speaking branch of my church where we have an average attendance of 65-75 people every week and a total of 132 on the roster. I know because I am the clerk. I also know that out of those 132 people, there are only two that are here legally because they were born in Texas, and both of them speak english well enough to never need me to interpret or translate for them. When I worked with those men and women in the factory (packaging plant) not a one of them could speak english well enough to communicate to management on their own and that is why I had a job as a mediator between them and the floor managers. Since I kept their work records and was basically their only link to a better life while working in the factory (I looked after their welfare while working in that horrible place), I was able to learn that not a one of them was here legally, but my employer (temp. agency) was able to hide that fact, stating that if their cards "appeared" legal, we were not to question them.

Based on this, I stand by my statement that in my area I cannot get a job with any insurance company as their Spanish interpreter on duty because here, there would be no work. Those that are actually legal are those that speak english well enough to not need me. Those that do not speak english are very likely illegal (based on my experience, not a website of guesses) and therefore I would not be able to earn a living as an interpreter for Nationwide or anyone else.