Blue states keep finding new ways to undermine the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Sanctuary states like California, and sanctuary cities like Chicago, try their best to embed illegal aliens into society to increase the incentives to come here illegally, and reduce the incentives to self-deport.
Some are expensive, like giving access to Medicaid, while others, like giving driver’s licenses, cost less.
But the point is always the same: Amnesty by a thousand cuts.
Anti-border politicians seek to normalize illegal immigration and present the American people with a fait accompli — “They’ve lived here for many years, we can’t deport them now!”
Perhaps the most important way states undermine federal immigration-control efforts is by issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.
The illegal-alien truck driver with a California commercial license who recently caused the deaths of three people in Florida has garnered as lot of attention, and prison followed by deportation should be his lot.
But it’s the millions of illegals with regular licenses that pose the greater long-term threat to the country.
You can’t get by in a modern society without ID. A government-issued photo ID is necessary for all kinds of ordinary activities — cashing a check, getting a job, renting a house, opening a bank account, picking up a prescription, buying a beer.
If illegal migrants can’t get legitimate IDs, they’ll seek out fake or stolen ones, significantly increasing the risk of arrest and deportation, or even prison. If such a policy were applied nationwide, it would be less appealing to come here illegally, more appealing to leave for those already here, and easier for immigration authorities to do their jobs.
But unlike a lot of countries, we don’t have a national ID card that we could deny to illegal aliens. Instead, we mainly rely on state driver’s licenses or DMV-issued non-driver IDs. That means blue states have it within their power to subvert immigration law and help illegals embed in their communities by issuing them driver’s licenses.
And this is exactly what 19 states (all blue, except for Utah), plus DC and Puerto Rico, have done. They take the form of “driver privilege cards” that don’t meet the standards of the federal Real ID Act, but are perfectly usable for many purposes.
As important as licenses are, there are other ways blue states are normalizing illegal immigration.
For instance, many states provide certain Medicaid services to illegal aliens, making it still easier to stay here. It was recently reported that much of the growth in New York’s “emergency Medicaid” program has come from illegal aliens; the total cost of the program, for all users, was more than $600 million last year.
Along the same lines, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently signed legislation guaranteeing access to student financial aid to illegal aliens. Cost aside, the point here is to erase the line between legal and illegal aliens, and to make it easier for illegals to stay and harder for federal authorities make them leave.
The de facto amnesty strategy is like a mosaic — each shiny piece is presented as harmless or even beneficial: The roads will be safer if illegals have licenses! Talented youth will be able to go to college!
But put the pieces together and what you get is one of those “Amnesty for All” signs, followed in parentheses by “(Whether the American people like it or not).”
Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
