Illegal Immigrants

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

There's the story of a woman with five kids who was asked: If she had to do it all over again, would she have five children? "Yes," she said, "just not these five. " That's the way I feel about the immigration "reform" bill introduced by the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of 8. " I'm all for an immigration bill, just not this immigration bill -- at least in its present form. One of the "gang" members, Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, indicated the bill has problems that need fixing when he said in a recent interview: "Let's try to fix it. Let's try to change it, but to just say let's defeat the whole thing; I don't think that's a productive approach either.

Maryland is poised to become the only state on the East Coast to issue driver's licenses to immigrants here illegally under a bill passed by state lawmakers Friday. The legislation, which Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to sign, would revive a two-tier licensing system that was set to expire in 2015. It would grant new licenses to more than 100,000 people, legislative analysts said. "We've changed the conversation on how we deal with residents in Maryland, and that includes everyone, including immigrants," said Sen. Victor Ramirez, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the bill.

Dear Scholar, It was wholly a pleasure to get your thoughts about the current debate over illegal immigrants and how to approach the nettlesome challenge they represent to us -- and we to them. It was good of you to rehearse some classical history for me, explaining how other societies, our forerunners as democracies (Athens) and republics that acquired an empire (Rome), dealt with their immigrants. All in the course of challenging my view that some way to citizenship should be left open for our millions of illegal immigrants.

The owners of Kawasaki restaurants pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore yesterday, admitting they hired illegal immigrants as low-wage employees at their well-known Japanese eateries and funneled the profits from their labor into expensive real estate and luxury cars. The owners of the three Kawasaki restaurants in Mount Vernon and Fells Point, and at Johns Hopkins Hospital agreed to hand over to federal authorities more than $1.1 million in cash, property and vehicles, authorities said.

Am I the only person in Maryland offended by the pictures of illegal immigrants, one on them on the front page, that appeared in your newspaper April 14? An individual illegally invades our state and country, breaks our laws and takes by force what others spend years to achieve legally and we celebrate this violation of law and borders with quotes and interviews while never questioning their right to be here? I wonder just when our elected officials were given the choice of what laws they choose to enforce.

Dan Rodricks used the example of an illegal immigrant who became a doctor and saved a woman's life to illustrate the wonderful asset illegal immigrants can be ("'Illegals' and the next economy," May 15). In the interest of fair and balanced commentary, I wish he would have compared the number of illegal immigrants who save someone's life to the number who commit violent crimes — like the "thrill-kill" murder of three New Jersey college students who were shot in the head in a school yard by an illegal immigrant.

In Annie Linskey's front page article, "O'Malley, Ehrlich differ on illegal immigration" (Sept 29), our Democratic governor is quoted, in part, defending illegal immigrants thusly; "New Americans didn't manipulate investment vehicles on Wall Street and wreck our economy and decimate our savings. " What our governor, and many Democrats, seem to have a problem grasping is the — for them —inconvenient truth that illegal immigrants are not Americans, new or otherwise. Dennis J. Dąbrówka, Glen Burnie

President Barack Obama no longer has to worry about re-election. He is now free to pursue his so called "comprehensive immigration reform" or amnesty for illegal immigrants. Congress must stop any illegal immigrant amnesty proposals from the Obama administration now. Don't let Congress ignore the plight of the American worker. We should not believe any lame excuses for rewarding illegal immigrants with American jobs. The willingness to pass a mass amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants must not come about as long as there are 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job, and allowing 12 million illegal immigrants to join the legal work force would only make things in the job market worse.

Federal prosecutors say a Columbia woman has been charged with importing and harboring illegal immigrants who worked at her Hanover restaurant. The U.S. attorney's office said 54-year-old Yen Wan Cheng was arrested Tuesday and made an initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Prosecutors said Cheng housed the illegal immigrants in a home she owns in Columbia and transported them to the restaurant where they worked, the Red Parrot Asian Bistro. The U.S. attorney's office says she faces up to three years for employing illegal immigrants and five years each on various charges of harboring and transporting illegal immigrants.

Some people have argued that the Boston Marathon bombing should not affect immigration reform because immigrants in the country illegally are not in the habit of planting bombs. But that doesn't doesn't mean they are safe. Many gang members are here illegally, including members of the dreaded MS-13. The gang member who killed the four New Jersey college students was in the country illegally. The 25-year-old man who kidnapped the 13-year-old-boy at a bus stop in Florida was too. And countless others kill people in traffic accidents.

As an older American I find the thinking behind the Sunday's editorial supporting driver's licenses for illegal immigrants truly puzzling ("Driver's licenses for all drivers," Mar 31). I was raised to understand that if you violated the law, you could expect to go to jail. Now we rationalize that it is better for society to provide a license that is a privilege not a right to lawbreakers. We also notify the lawbreaker that the license will not be accepted at the airport, where you may be arrested.

Maryland is poised to become the only state on the East Coast to issue driver's licenses to immigrants here illegally under a bill passed by state lawmakers Friday. The legislation, which Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to sign, would revive a two-tier licensing system that was set to expire in 2015. It would grant new licenses to more than 100,000 people, legislative analysts said. "We've changed the conversation on how we deal with residents in Maryland, and that includes everyone, including immigrants," said Sen. Victor Ramirez, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the bill.

The answer to The Sun's question about what could possibly be the point of denying illegal immigrants in Maryland driver's licenses can be found in Webster's dictionary ("State Senate approves driver's licenses for illegal immigrants" Mar 25). The word "illegal" means: unlicensed, prohibited, forbidden, unauthorized, and criminal, just to name a relevant few! And if and until immigration reform is accomplished, I suggest that the state of Maryland and every other state try following the letter of the law, for once, and deport the illegal immigrants instead of rewarding them.

Before lawmakers in Annapolis propose legislation, they should know what they are talking about ("Senate approves two-tier licenses," March 26). Prince George's County Democrat Del. Jolene Ivey introduced the House version of a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain Maryland driver's licenses by calling it a "safety issue. " "I want to know they have car insurance, that they know not to flee when they're getting pulled over or in an accident," she said. First, car insurance is not required to get a license.

In Annapolis, some conservative Republicans - having apparently not taken notice of the 2012 election and the conundrum facing their party over its hard-line immigration stance at the national level - are lambasting a proposal to expand and make permanent a two-tier driver's license system in Maryland. One even warned that Maryland could soon become a "Disneyland" for illegal immigrants. But it is opponents who are living in a Disney-like fantasy land if they can't see who the chief beneficiary would be of any system that seeks to ensure all Maryland drivers meet minimum standards of knowledge and competency and are eligible for insurance.

A delusional progressive mindset has polluted the American legal system ( "ICE raid suit alleges gang death threat" June 26). For the ACLU to claim illegal immigrants have constitutional rights on the taxpayers dime goes beyond ridiculous. For the American University to voluntarily bastardize our legal system by promoting this behavior through its own "school of law" is not only beyond ridiculous but wholeheartedly un-American. To claim an illegal has constitutional rights protecting their desire to live in this nation is entirely contradictory to the legal immigration process and only serves to deprive legal citizens of opportunity.

The Maryland Senate once again sold out to illegal immigrants by voting to allow their children to pay in-state tuition rates if they attend Maryland colleges and universities, and by doing so they have saddled the state taxpayers with millions in additional costs. Instead, the Senate should have done the right thing and reported these illegal immigrants to the authorities and gotten them and their children out of Maryland. It goes to show that the Maryland Senate is nothing but a bleeding heart group of idiots that failed to see that real Marylanders are still struggling to make ends meet.

Exactly what makes Del. Jolene Ivey believe that issuing a license to illegal immigrants in Maryland will guarantee that "they have car insurance" or that "they know not to flee when they're getting pulled over or in an accident?" ("Senate approves two-tier licenses," March 26). Certainly it won't. They don't even have to be able to read, speak or write English. The state must provide an interpreter to enable them to pass the license test. Is that interpreter going to ride with them forever to interpret signs or a law enforcement officer's direction?