Old Hickory's Weblog 09/01/04:
Schwarzenegger's main promise to immigrants in California during the recall coup in 2003 was to get a bill approved to allow undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses. As a reminder, the good Republican growers of California are essentially completely dependent on illegal immigrant labor, as are canneries and many home services to a large extent. The system is corrupt to the bone, of course, but that's the way good California Republicans handle things. And as long as we have hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants here, it would be helpful to have a car licensing program that encourages them to get at least basic instructions on state traffic laws.
A bill is expected to hit Schwarzenegger's desk soon. We'll have to wait and see what our immigrant-friendly, smiley-face Republican governor will do.
Sacramento Bee 09/23/04: Governor vetoes driver's license bill by Aurelio Rojas
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants to apply for California driver's licenses with a terse statement saying the bill did not meet his security concerns.
The Republican governor dispensed with perhaps the most emotionally charged bill on his desk with a four-line veto message.
"One of the most important duties of the governor of a state is to protect its citizens," Schwarzenegger said. "This bill does not adequately address the security concerns that my Department of Homeland Security and I have, and I cannot support it." ...
Ann Marie Tallman, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said her group was "profoundly disappointed" in the governor's decision.
"The governor's veto is even more regrettable given his public statements that immigrants should be allowed to obtain a driver's license," she said in a statement, adding that the measure "would have ensured that a significant, reliable and hard-working segment of our state's work force be able to safely drive to and from work."
"Immigrants are a critical component of and significant contributor to our state's economy," she said. "It is baffling that the governor would deny them the ability to fully participate in making our state's economy even stronger."
El gobernador de California veta las licencias para los indocumentados de Jorge Luis Macías La Opinion 09/23/04:
La decisión del mandatario provocó “desilusión” entre legisladores demócratas, elogios del comité republicano conservador Salvemos Nuestra Licencia (Save Our License), y críticas de partidarios del senador Gil Cedillo, autor de la ley, quienes hicieron un llamado a los hispanos del país para que voten contra el presidente George W. Bush en las elecciones de noviembre.
“Para rescatar un poco de nuestra dignidad, lo hecho por Arnold [Schwarzenegger] sólo se puede contrarrestar si actuamos en contra de Bush. Si él [Schwarzenegger] quiere hundir al Presidente, nosotros le ayudaremos el día de las elecciones”, dijo Miguel Araujo, presidente del Centro de Información Azteca de California. ...
“Los republicanos le han quitado la máscara al gobernador”, dijo Angélica Salas, directora de la Coalición de Los Angeles para los Derechos de los Inmigrantes (CHIRLA). “Schwarzenegger ha mostrado su verdadera cara y ha establecido que quiere mantener a la comunidad inmigrante sin derechos ni protección. Hemos peleado seis años por la justicia, pero no nos dejaremos vencer, aunque será una larga batalla”. ...
Schwarzenegger solicitó en diciembre ... la revocación del proyecto de ley que había firmado el gobernador Gray Davis poco antes de ser destituido en las urnas y al senador prometió que ambos trabajarían en una nueva iniciativa.
“Es una gran inmoralidad que se siga jugando con los sentimientos de nuestro pueblo. Arnold nos ha traicionado, y si el presidente [George W. Bush] había mostrado algunas señales de buena voluntad al pedir en el Congreso que se aprobara el uso de la matrícula consular, el gobernador de California también contradice a Jeb Bush —hermano del Presidente— quien dio licencias en Florida a los inmigrantes”, dijo Miguel Araujo. “Con Arnold estamos ante un hombre republicano de ultraderecha, cuyos lazos ligados a un pasado nazi lo hacen más peligroso”.
[My translation: The decision of the head of state proviked "disillusionment" among Democratic legislators, praises from the conservtive Republican committee Save Our License, and criticisms by supporters of senator Gil Cedillo, author of the law, who called for the country's Hispanics to vote against George W. Bush in the November elections.
["To recover a little of our dignity, what Arnold [Schwarzenegger] did can only be counteracted if we act against Bush. If he [Schwarzenegger] wants to sink the president, we will support him [in doing so] on election day," said Miguel Araujo, president of the Centro de Información Azteca de California. ...
["The Republicans have removed the governor's mask," said Angélica Salas, director of the Coalición de Los Angeles para los Derechos de los Inmigrantes (CHIRLA). "Schwarzenegger has shown his tue face and has etablished that he wants to keep the immigrant community without rights or protection. We have fought six years for justice, but we're not going to give up on winning, if if there is a big battle." ...
[Schwarzenegger asked in December for the rvocation of the plan of the law that Governor Gray Davis had signed just before he was defeated at the polls and promised the senator [Cedillo] that they would both work on a new attempt.
["It is a very immoral thing for him to play witht he sentiments of our people. Arnold has betrayed us, and if the president [George W. Bush] wanted to show some signs of good will by asking Congress to approve the use of consular enrollment, the governor of California also contradicts Jeb Bush - brother of the president - who gave licenses to immigrants in Florida," said Miguel Araujo. "With Arnold, we're stuck with a Republican man of the ultraright, whose binding ties to a former Nazi have done him of a lot of harm."]
Presumably, the "former Nazi" to whom Araujo refers is Schwarzenegger's father, who was a Nazi Party member during the Third Reich.CALIFORNIA: La política de las licencias de Jorge Delgado La Opinion 09/22/04:
Con él sonríe la extrema derecha del Estado y los movimientos antiinmigrantes liderados por los Wilson, los Costa, los Rohrabacher y algunos más que impulsan sus respectivas carreras políticas dándoles circo a quienes respaldan sus causas.
En la antigua Roma, los césares lanzaban a los cristianos a los leones para distraer la atención del pueblo. En la actualidad los políticos de extrema derecha promueven la intolerancia antiinmigrante con el mismo fin.
[My translation: With the approval of the state's extreme right and the anti-immigrant movements led by the Wilsons, the Costas, the Rohrbachers and some other who promote their respective political careers (with a) damaging circus for those who support their causes.
[In ancient Rome, the Caesars threw the Christians to the lions to distract the people's attention. In the present, politicians of the extreme right promote anti-immigrant intolerance with the same goal.]
El veto a las licencias de conducir La Opinion editorial 09/23/04:
A nadie sorprende el veto del gobernador Arnold Schwarzenegger al proyecto de ley que autorizaba dar licencias de conducir a los indocumentados. Sin embargo, las razones que alega y el proceso seguido revelan su falta de sinceridad sobre el tema. Schwarzenegger tiene motivos políticos para rechazarlo, pero, desafortunadamente, optó por esgrimir un vergonzoso argumento de seguridad interna que no convence a nadie. Esta posición es contraria a las recomendaciones de los profesionales de la ley, para quienes mantener la situación actual conlleva mayores riesgos que otorgar el documento. ...
Por otra parte, ayer comenzó en Sacramento la junta de firmas para otra iniciativa electoral contra los indocumentados, usando como latiguillo el tema de las licencias de conducir. Sus autores, tristemente conocidos por la Proposición 187, no hablan de seguridad nacional ni seandan con medias tintas. Es lamentable que esta gente, en su odio y resentimiento a los indocumentados, sean más sinceros y transparentes que el gobernador.
[My translation: No one was surprised by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of the plan of the law that authorized drivers licenses for the undocumented. Nevertheless, the reasons he put forward reveal his lack of sincerity on this issue. Schwarzenegger has political motives to reject it, but, unfortunately, he opted to use a disgraceful argument of intenal security that convinces no one. This position is contrary to the recommendation of legal professionals, according to whom maintaining the current situation carries with it grater risks that granting the document [i.e., the drivers license]. ...
[ Besides that, the collection of signatures began yesterday in Sacramento for another electoral initiative [statewide plebescite] against the undocumented, using the theme of drivers licesnes as a clicheé. Its authors, who sadly we know from [the anti-immigrant] Proposition 187 [in 1994], aren't talking about national security nor are they of moderate coloration. It's regretable that these people, in their hatred and rsentment of the undcoumented, are more sincere and transparent than the governor.]
Schwarzenegger vetoes license bill for illegal immigrants San Francisco Chronicle online 09/22/04
The veto marked the newest turn in a sustained battle that reveals the state's rigid political divide over illegal immigration.
Supporters called the legislation a recognition of contributions by California's large illegal working class while opponents dismissed it as rewarding those who break the nation's immigration laws. Opponents also frequently suggested terrorists would use licenses to blend in.
Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, applauded the veto.
"This veto makes it harder for terrorists to obtain the primary document used for renting cars, boarding planes, and making other travel arrangements," McCarthy said.
Similar fears in Florida caused lawmakers last April to abandon a similar licensing bill backed by Gov. Jeb Bush.
Schwarzenegger's veto countered many mainstream supporters of the bill, including Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton and Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles as well as other police chiefs, religious organizations and newspaper editorial pages.
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