The first is SB 845, the Drivers Privilege Card, which not only fails to fix a problem that it purports to solve, but creates new ones as well. Oregon stopped giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens three years ago to end our destination status for drug dealers, would-be terrorists, identity thieves, and run of the mill lawbreakers. Ever since, ethnic identity activists such as CAUSA have worked to re-establish drivers’ rights for illegal aliens.

The chief sponsors are State Representatives Bob Jenson, R-Pendleton, Chip shields, D- Portland, Chris Cannon, D-Portland and Tina Kotek, D-Portland. When I asked Representative Jenson about his support, he said that illegal aliens will drive no matter what and at least this way they will have insurance. He obviously didn't know that illegal aliens used to save money by cancelling their insurance after getting their licenses because the DMV has no way of monitoring it. How will a Drivers’Privilege card change their habits? 

We can be sure that the card will enable illegal aliens, drug dealers and fraudsters to ply their trade. Jenson debated this point in a phone interview, saying that police can still search any car with probable cause. I replied that lacking a license of any kind during a traffic stop is the strongest probable cause of all, inviting an automatic search. A polite drug dealer with a privilege card is likely to avoid it. Jenson was caught so flatfooted by this revelation that he was literally speechless for several seconds, but then hastily said goodbye. I’ve never encountered such legislative shallowness this closely before.

Similar driving privilege bills have been abject failures. Utah is the only other state that allows them and will likely end the practice this year. When Tennessee tried it, the state became a magnet for the underworld. After the FBI discovered a plot to smuggle in illegal aliens from South America to take advantage of their system, the program was ended in 2006.Why should we re-establish Oregon as the destination spot for criminality? The only security measure this bill attempts is to prohibit the card being used as a breeder document for other ID. Who’s naïve enough to trust this?

The second proposal is SB 742, in-state tuition rates for illegal alien students. It’s co-sponsored by Senators Frank Morse, R- Albany, and Dave Nelson, R-Hood River, and Rod Monroe, D-Portland.  Representative sponsors are Mark Johnson, R-Hood River, Bob Jenson, R-Pendleton, Sara Gelser, D- Corvallis and Betty Komp, D-North Salem .

This bill is riddled with technical problems and enormous expenses. First, the bill violates the federal Immigrant Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which states that illegal aliens cannot benefit from programs unavailable to citizens. Because SR 742 doesn’t subsidize citizens from out of state, it exposes Oregon to a class action lawsuit of the kind Oklahoma and California faced on behalf of American students. Is this an expense we need at a time like this? And can we afford to subsidize all students to create “education equity” for illegal aliens?

The in-state tuition rate is about $6435 per year and tuition for out-of-state students is $24,570, a difference of $17,600, which taxpayers would have to subsidize each illegal alien student per year. One Republican representative told me that it won’t cost us any more money because “the colleges make up for the cost.” I expect this kind of magical thinking from liberals but not conservatives. If they can make up for it, it would have to be with tuition hikes or tax money. Neither is acceptable.

There’s another problem with SB 742. The students are required to actively seek citizenship but there’s no requirement to complete the process, meaning that we may pay for the college education of students who cannot legally work here when they graduate. Given the bill’s lack of logic, staffers defend it with emotional hand wringing for students who “have spent all their lives in Oregon,” although the bill has only a three-year residency requirement. Another recurring slogan is that we shouldn’t punish students for being brought here “through no fault of their own,” and yet we don’t mind charging a premium to American students raised in other states through no fault of their own. This view is based on the assumption that the parents of resident illegal alien students have paid into our state system since moving here. This is guesswork at best. If they’ve been paid under the table or have made use of housing subsidies, social services or earned income tax credits, they have likely created a net drain.  

A hearing on SB 742 was held by the Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development on Thursday, March 3 at the state Capitol. According to Cynthia Kendoll, the president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, about two hundred illegal aliens students and their supporters packed the room to demand  their right for a subsidized college education. The outnumbered opponents included an American student from California who didn't think it was fair for him to pay more to attend college in Oregon than illegal aliens. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to speak, as most of the time was allotted for the rambling and emotional testimonies of the subsidy lobby.

Republican Larry George seemed to sympathize with the students as well when he asked Jim Ludwick of Ofir about what to do about all these "children" who were brought here and don't know their own countries? The fact that none of the students knew this country when they were brought here is probably lost on this panel, and it still wouldn't provide a reason that taxpayers are endlessly obligated to fulfill everyone else's wish list. Representative Jenson's deference went so far as to suggest that Oregon violate Federal law by giving graduates a certificate to  legally work in Oregon if they failed to complete their citizenship.

How's that for largesse, giving illegal aliens a right to compete with citizens for jobs if they drop out of the citizenship process? I only wish our legislators were as eager to accommodate us. Common sense would dictate that these students apply for loans or work and save to go to college. Americans do it when they want to go to college out of state. Is is that hard to understand? For this senate panel it seems to be. Or is their belief that life should only be hard for citizens?   

I prefer to help people who are grateful for it, which this crowd wasn't. Having already received a free K-12 education, the only attitude they showed was a pernicious sense of entitlement for more taxpayer money while the committee as a whole seemed determined to force Oregonians to ante up. The scene was more one of mob rule than representative government, and I'm appalled that so many Republicans have decided to insult overburdened taxpayers straight out of the gate in a clearly  probationary season.