Vermont Wakes Up to Fraudulently Obtained State-Issued Driver’s Privilege Cards; When Will California?

The 19 terrorists complicit in the 9/11 murderous attacks on America held a total of 30 state-issued driver’s licenses which they used for identification to enroll in flight schools, rent apartments, open bank accounts and board airliners.

Some of the licenses were legally obtained; some were secured through fraud; others were falsified, and five were duplicates. California issued two of the licenses to Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, al Qaeda-trained Saudi nationals living in San Diego, who hijacked and crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, killing 125.

Despite the security threat that giving official state documents to illegal immigrants represents, California forged ahead and passed AB 60 which took effect January 1. During AB 60’s first two weeks, California issued more than 25,000 alien driver’s licenses with a special designation indicating unlawful immigration status.

The licenses represent another toehold for illegal immigrants in mainstream society that can lead to a new set of complications. While the touchy-feely excuses for giving driver’s licenses to aliens dominated the news stories, the practical pitfalls went largely unreported.

Nonresidents fraudulently acquire Vermont Driver’s Privilege Card.

The most obvious risk is that state-sanctioned driving privileges will lure more illegal immigrants to California not only from foreign countries, but also from other states that don’t issue licenses to aliens.

Consider Vermont where the DMV processed 130 invalid applications for driving privilege cards to nonresidents. When asked to explain why non-Vermont residents had fraudulently applied, DMV Enforcement Director Glen Button said: “Right now, the state of Vermont offers a driver’s privilege card and some of the surrounding states don’t. That could be one reason they come here to try to get it.”

Tennessee, Washington and New Mexico have experienced problems similar to Vermont’s.

Showing more wisdom and insight than Governor Jerry Brown and the California Legislature, Vermont State Senator Norm McAllister, who voted against the license bill, reasonably asked: “Is anyone shocked that, because we opened the door wide to illegal activity, people that look for a way to beat the system are now taking full advantage of it?”

My answer: when society tolerates illegal behavior, it promotes more of it.