{"id":1356,"date":"2008-02-10T02:40:19","date_gmt":"2008-02-10T06:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=1356"},"modified":"2008-02-10T02:45:56","modified_gmt":"2008-02-10T06:45:56","slug":"the-dustin-inman-society-in-the-albany-herald-making-life-difficult-for-unlicensed-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2008\/02\/10\/the-dustin-inman-society-in-the-albany-herald-making-life-difficult-for-unlicensed-drivers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dustin Inman Society in the Albany Herald – making life difficult for unlicensed drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

BONUS INFO:<\/strong>
\nDriver’s licenses for migrants? Not in Mexico, The question of whether to give driver’s licenses to illegal … an expert on driver’s licenses at the National Immigration Law Center. .. HERE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Not legal? No Mexican driver’s license for you – USATODAY.comMEXICO CITY \u2014 The question of whether to give driver’s licenses to illegal … they are legal residents, according to the National Immigration Law Center…
\nHERE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

License laws may tighten <\/strong><\/p>\n

Senate bills give tougher penalties for driving without a license and outlaw so-called “sanctuary” cities.
\nDave Williams <\/strong><\/p>\n

ATLANTA \u2014 The Senate approved legislation Thursday that would stiffen penalties for motorists caught repeatedly driving without a valid Georgia license. <\/p>\n

The bill, which passed 38-13 and now goes to the House, would make the crime a felony on the fourth offense within five years. Violators would face one to five years in prison and a fine of $2,500 to $5,000. <\/p>\n

This is the second year in a row Georgia lawmakers have debated the measure. <\/p>\n

It was criticized last year as a thinly veiled attempt to target illegal immigrants. Then, after the General Assembly passed the bill, Gov. Sonny Perdue vetoed it over concerns that it could affect newcomers to Georgia who don\u2019t get their driver\u2019s licenses within 30 days of moving into the state. <\/p>\n

But the bill\u2019s sponsors worked with the governor\u2019s staff on a rewrite that addresses that issue, said Sen. John Wiles, R-Marietta, who introduced it in 2007 and again this year. <\/p>\n

Under the new version of the legislation, first-time violators could have the charge dropped upon showing the court hearing the case proof of a valid Georgia driver\u2019s license. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have the ability to get a Georgia license, we\u2019re not going to punish you,\u201d Wiles said. <\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s potential use as a weapon against illegal immigrants didn\u2019t come up during Thursday\u2019s debate on the Senate floor. <\/p>\n

But opponents raised other objections, including whether it would be used against temporary residents of Georgia, either from other states or other countries, who have no intention of settling down here. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf a person doesn\u2019t want to live in this state, they don\u2019t want a Georgia license,\u201d said Sen. Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain. <\/p>\n

Butler, who is African-American, also argued that the bill would increase racial profiling of motorists by police officers. <\/p>\n

But Sen. Ronald Ramsey, D-Decatur, another black lawmaker, said he saw too many drivers with no licenses or suspended licenses appear in his court during the seven years he served as a municipal judge. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a great offense … for people to consciously get in a car day in and day out and drive without a license,\u201d he said. \u201cI have put people in jail for far less.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Dustin Inman Society, an anti-illegal immigration group based in Marietta, worked last year to get the bill passed and continued to support it this year. <\/p>\n

The organization is named in honor of a local youth who was killed in a crash involving a driver who was in the country illegally. <\/p>\n

In other action Thursday more directly related to illegal immigration, the Senate passed a bill to prohibit so-called \u201csanctuary cities\u201d in Georgia. <\/p>\n

Some cities in other states have adopted policies preventing their officials or employees from passing along information on the immigration status of any person they come across to the federal government or law enforcement agencies. <\/p>\n

The legislation passed 45-8 and now goes to the House. HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a9 2008 The Albany Herald\/Triple Crown Media <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BONUS INFO: Driver’s licenses for migrants? Not in Mexico, The question of whether to give driver’s licenses to illegal … an expert on driver’s licenses at the National Immigration Law Center. .. HERE Not legal? No Mexican driver’s license for you – USATODAY.comMEXICO CITY \u2014 The question of whether to give driver’s licenses to illegal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}