Undocumented immigrants pose threat on roads
Drivers beware: There's a woman driving a stretch of Interstate 90 between Sparta and Tomah—without a license or any training about Wisconsin's traffic laws.
Her name is Victoria. She's a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico who works on a Tomah dairy farm with other undocumented immigrants whom, she says, "all understand our boss through signals" because of language barriers.
Victoria, who arrived in Wisconsin 13 months ago, hasn't taken any drivers' training in the United States because Wisconsin law prohibits her from obtaining a license. She says she hasn't had any run-ins with police but requested that her last name be withheld out of fear she might be pursued as an illegal immigrant.
She is among a growing number of illegal immigrants who are finding work on Wisconsin dairy farms, located in rural areas where the only way to get to work is by car.
Immigrants now account for about 40 percent of the state's dairy labor force, up from just 5 percent a decade ago, according to a 2009 study by the UW-Madison Program on Agricultural Technology Studies.
These 5,000 immigrants have become a critical part of the state's signature industry. While there are no estimates on how many of Wisconsin's immigrant dairy workers are here illegally, federal surveys have estimated that half of all immigrant crop workers nationwide lack immigration papers.
Change rejected
Many undocumented immigrants, including dairy workers, continue to drive without licenses after the defeat of a proposal in this year's budget that would have allowed them to get licensed.
The measure, backed by some dairy farmers and law enforcement officers, would have reversed part of a 2005 state law passed to comply with the federal Real ID Act, which required applicants for a driver's license to submit proof of their citizenship or legal resident status. Its failure came as a blow to immigrant advocacy groups, which have long petitioned for the right of undocumented immigrants to drive legally in the state.
"It shows that neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party in Wisconsin or nationally have the intention to fix the problems that are most urgent to our people," said Alex Gillis, advocate for the Madison immigration rights group Immigrant Workers' Union.
The provision—authored by state Rep. Pedro Colón, D-Milwaukee—was added to the 2009-11 biennial budget by the legislative budget committee and approved by the Assembly earlier this year before being removed by the Senate. It was not included in the Legislature's final budget compromise signed by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle in June.
'Breaking the law'
Opponents argue Wisconsin shouldn't be in the business of ignoring state and federal immigration laws, regardless of the limitations on state agriculture and driving enforcement.
"There's a tendency to sometimes accept the fact that we have people here breaking the law," said state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia.
According to a 2008 study by Paul Dyk, a livestock agent with the UW Extension in Fond du Lac County, 78 percent of Hispanic workers at Eastern Wisconsin dairy farms arrive at work in their own car, but only 44 percent of Hispanic dairy workers have a driver's license.
No one knows how many undocumented immigrants are driving without licenses in Wisconsin. But state Department of Transportation data show that after the law requiring applicants to submit proof of legal residence took effect in 2007, the number of people taking the Spanish-language version of the road skills knowledge test plummeted 91 percent—from 42,500 in 2006 to fewer than 4,000 in 2008. The number of applicants taking the English version of the test also declined during the period, but by just 23 percent.
At a December meeting of the Dairy Business Association, a group of large dairy farm owners, Colón said the right to a driver's license represents "the most basic of what we call the American dream, this basic attainment of what we call happiness."
Colón said his staff examined two states that have implemented similar laws—Utah and Tennessee.
Tennessee, however, suspended its two-tier license program after the state found undocumented immigrants from neighboring states were attempting to acquire the licenses. The National Immigration Law Center estimated Tennessee issued 51,000 driving certificates to citizens who could not authenticate their legal status.
'Know the rules'
Mario Garcia, youth coordinator at the Madison-based nonprofit agency Centro Hispano, said the inability of immigrant workers to drive legally makes Wisconsin roads dangerous for all.
"You want people who are driving to really know the rules, really know the laws," said Garcia, echoing a view expressed by some law-enforcement officials. "When they commit an infraction, you want the local enforcement to be able to identify them."
The budget proposal would have required the limited-use licenses to appear "distinctive" from standard driver's licenses and also would have required language on the new licenses to stipulate they could be used for driving only. Cardholders could not have used their cards for other identification verification purposes, such as cashing a check or boarding a commercial flight.
With Democrats in the majority in both houses, Republican opposition wasn't enough to derail Colón's proposal. Once the budget moved onto the Senate, however, some Democrats, including Sen. Tim Carpenter of Milwaukee, opposed the measure, citing constituents' strong reactions.
Lawmakers on both sides of the driver's license issue are united in one aspect: The Wisconsin Legislature shouldn't be in the position of dictating immigration policy.
For now, Colón says he has no plans to reintroduce the plan as a stand-alone bill. In addition to the already difficult path it faces in the Legislature, Colón believes federal lawmakers are ready to make the state's job easier by reforming how the nation deals with illegal immigrants.
Andy Szal is a reporter for wispolitics.com. Jacob Kushner is a reporter for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (wisconsinwatch.org). The two organizations collaborated on this report for Dairyland Diversity, an ongoing project with The Country Today newspaper examining how immigration is reshaping Wisconsin's dairy industry.
Dec 24, 2009 at 7:08 a.m.
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Illegal Aliens are not wanted here. They have never been wanted here by the "General Population", but that never seems to matter to the rich folk who have all the power to prevent it, & stop it. The only reason they're here is to take jobs away from people who'd other wise be working (People worked those jobs before they were here, & they'll work them once they're gone. If that ever happenes.) They're presence has everything to do with making the rich, richer by paying workers lower wages. Employers know they can pay a illegal alien less then half that they'd have to pay a legal citizen to do the same job. I don't buy into that crap that our economy would fail if they weren't here. Why?.. Because they're here now, & our economy is already failing.. & its been failing for several years. My hypothesis is, they are part of the causal effects of the failure (free medical, welfare, free education when everyone else pays for it). Remember.. They're numbers increase DAILY, & have been since the middle 80's. I'm not just talking about Hispanics.. Canadians, Turks, you name it. Most come through Mexico because its a open door down there. I use to live there. "Give them Drivers Licenses"? CHeck the crime rate in Border Cities like Lorado, TX. Hit & Runs are off the charts, & its because they can just drive over the border, & on American streets as long as they have a Mexican license & Insurance (Most don't)
Dec 23, 2009 at 5:10 p.m.
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OK, they withhold her last name, but tell where she works? Do they think immigration isn't smart enough to go there? lol
Dec 21, 2009 at 12:40 p.m.
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Please, everyone. People can really get involved in stopping the amnesty plans that this administration has planned to jam down our throats: Join FREE at www.NumbersUSA.com, where THEY SEND FAXES TO YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS ON YOUR BEHALF ON ALL IMMIGRATION TOPICS....you just point and click to shoot them off, one after the other! During the Senate debate over illegal alien amnesty in June 2007, NumbersUSA members MELTED DOWN the phone lines into the Senate the morning of the make-or-break vote, and prompted enough Senators to switch to the CORRECT, ANTI-AMNESTY side to kill the bill! That effort also launched the Bush administration into a terrific, two-year push to enforce workplace raids and really hammer illegal aliens and their employers until Obama took over and called off the dogs. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS BEING A "NATION OF LAWS" AND THIS BEING A NATION OF ILLEGAL ALIEN ADVOCATES GETTING THEIR WAY BY FORCING AMNESTY DOWN OUR THROATS!
One number: 8 million illegal aliens hold jobs while almost 16 million Americans look for work!! (Oh yeah, and that DOESN'T include farm laborers...we're only talking jobs Americans have proven to "want" to do!)
Sick, sick numbers....please join at NumbersUSA.com to help stop this garbage!!
Thanks!
Dec 21, 2009 at 12:38 p.m.
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DO NOT BELIEVE THE CENTRAL IDEA IN THIS ARTICLE...it is WRONG!! THE ROADS WILL *NOT* BE SAFER IF ILLEGALS CAN GET LICENSES!! Please bear witness: (1) Traffic deaths PLUMMETING in this country FOR WHATEVER REASON OVER THE PAST DECADE!! Oh, guess what?? That decade matches up with America coming all the way down to only 4 or 5 states that illegals can get licenses in!! It was over HALF the states just a short time ago! Coincidence? I think NOT!!! (2) Illegal aliens are mostly Latino, and most of them are young male Latinos...that's the government's numbers, not mine. Study after study shows YOUNG LATINO ILLEGALS DRIVE DRUNK AT EXPONENTIALLY HIGHER RATES THAN ANY OTHER GROUP, PERIOD!! That again is coming from documented sources, and is even something that Latino advocates will admit to, when pressed: young Latino males are WAY BEHIND the message that young Americans have been receiving on drinking/driving, and therefore still think it's "macho" to drive drunk, and do lots of stuff drunk. (3) Illegal alien CRIME commission in general runs WAY above the average, and therefore more of their driving will be before, during, or after the commission of a crime, making them more likely to "attempt to elude" police, endangering many more innocent, legal people. (4) Illegal aliens do not respect the licensing process, as they are only after the final product, the license, and do not feel it is in their interest to truly become good drivers before attempting their driving test. My neighbor works at DMV and tells me stories are legendary about illegals coming in for tests less than a month after getting a permit, and almost killing the examiner with crappy driving. Add the language infrastructure the DMV has to maintain for non-English speakers, and taxpayers are almost getting killed, too. Many illegals manage to barely pass the written test and then drive ALONE on their permit for the forseeable future, figuring they can at least show police they took the written test and claim they're "trying their best" to comply...faking ignorance that it wasn't a full license.
In conclusion....Yeah, that's real safe for our roads!
Dec 21, 2009 at 12:38 p.m.
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The author, Jacob Kushner, and this "Center for Investigative Journalism," are far-left shills masquerading as non-partisan "journalists." See their staff listing at WisconsinWatch.org and you'll see that most of them come with Latin Studies degrees and ties to open-border amnesty advocacy. So PLEASE CONSIDER THIS ARTICLE COMES FROM A VERY BIASED SOURCE, to begin with. This author, Kushner, spent time in Haiti "exposing" discrimination against Dominican students, or some drivel like that, so he's WAY OFF THE MAINSTREAM when it comes to "investigative journalism" on immigration and illegal aliens like those in the story. This Center for Investigative Journalism is running a series lately, trying their darnedest to set the table for the amnesty legislation that is starting to be worked up in Congress, with the blessing of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. Folks, please don't believe a word coming out of these very uninformed sources, who fail to see that Americans deserve to be the FIRST CONCERN of our EMPLOYEES...the Congress and President, IN OUR OWN COUNTRY, for heaven's sake. Immigration law should be about ENFORCEMENT, because studies show that when you put one dollar into enforcement against fraud and other lawbreaking, your treasury gets THREE dollars back!! Sounds like just the ticket for these budgetary times...
Dec 21, 2009 at 11:39 a.m.
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The migration of the peoples of Mexico into the United States is the largest migration in history. It is of more consequence than any other event that has occurred in the history of the United States.
More than ten percent of the citizens of Mexico now reside within the United States without official permission from the federal government of the United States
Mexico holds that any person of Mexican birth or ancestry retains their Mexican citizenship even if the Mexican citizenship is renounced that person.
There will not be a kind or happy outcome of this for the common person of either nation.
Dec 21, 2009 at 4:50 a.m.
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"At a December meeting of the Dairy Business Association, a group of large dairy farm owners, Colón said the right to a driver's license represents "the most basic of what we call the American dream, this basic attainment of what we call happiness.""
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Sorry Colon, but nobody has a right to a driver's license. If a person meets their state's requirements for applying for a driver's license, and if that person then passes the required written test and driving test, then that person is issued a driver's license.
Dec 20, 2009 at 10:16 p.m.
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CALL CONGRESS @ 866 220 0044
DEMAND -OUR- IMMIGRATION LAWS BE ENFORCED !!!
E-VERIFY -ALL- JOBS & GOV`t. PROGRAMS !!!
287g-->NATIONWIDE TO FIND & DEPORT -ALL- ILLEGAL ALIENS !!!
visit: http://www.capsweb.org - http://www.numbersusa.com - http://www.americanpatrol.com - http://www.outragedpatriots.com -
http://www.theterryandersonshow.com - cis.org - ccir.net
NO AMNESTY--->EVER !!!
GOD BLESS THE U.S.!!!
Dec 20, 2009 at 5:02 p.m.
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First of all, States are responsible for licensing their citizens, not the federal government. Along with a valid state license comes the registering to vote, both controlled by the state for a national purpose. There are articles in the constitution that delegate responsibility to the states to prevent foreign nationals from entering their juridictions and among other things try to vote. Better to deport Victoria before she gets knocked up, has an Anchor Baby, and goes right on WELFARE. PC will be our end. Mis-interpreting the 14th amendment will make it come sooner.
Dec 20, 2009 at 2:15 p.m.
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Sounds to me that illegals account for about "40 percent of the state's dairy labor force" Im from so Cal I can assure you that means you all can look forward to thosands of
hit and run accidents, meth labs and pot growing, street crime of all sizes and types, drunk driving free for all, distruction of your schools, supermarkets, crash of your social services of any type as these criminals sign up under three four or five different names to collect thousands in support.
Forget about job stealing you cant get hired if your NOT what ever south american tribe has taken over the dairy. Get with it people do what ever it takes to drive this cancer out of your town.
Dec 20, 2009 at 9:38 a.m.
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Illegals aren't supposed to be here to begin with, and ethnic pimps like Mario Garcia always attempt to conflate illegals with legal immigrants to confuse the public. This frickin' broad isn't an "immigrant worker," got that Mario? Idiot.
The idea of giving any sort of government issued ID to invaders is ludicrous. A driver's license is a breeder document. Such docs are used to obtain other valid identification, loans welfare and other taxpayer funded benefits, etc. Bad idea.
This Victoria broad is an invader and criminal. It's illegal for her to be here, to work here, etc. If her employer is known to authorities then ICE or CBP should arrest the employer as well as the squatter. Said squatter is no doubt using false or stolen ID, yet another crime. Cretins like Victoria need to be ferreted out, rounded up like cattle, and promptly booted the heck out of the country. Period.
Dec 20, 2009 at 7:16 a.m.
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What is the argument here? every single alien "BROKE THE LAW!" Our Government, past & present, Republican & Democrat, have allowed the invasion of 20 to 30 million criminals and uneducated peons which is the largest invasion of any Nation, at any time, by any means & in direct violation of Article IV, Section IV of our Constitution.
This refusal to abide by our Constitution or enforce our Immigration Laws should be classified as Treason of the most foul kind, & as grounds for impeachment & trials for Treason!
Not only have they allowed the invasion, they force American tax payers to pay Billions on Billions of dollars to provide Welfare, Prison cells, Educate the invaders numerous children, and free medical care, at the same time the invading horde break numerous laws and massive document fraud, & are destroying our schools, hospitals, communities, culture and standard of living while Robbing, Raping, Killing & Assaulting American Citizens WAKE UP PEOPLE!
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