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Targeting Illegals: Blunt Proposes "New" Law to Deny Drivers Licenses
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 6:00 AM
Governor Matt Blunt stopped by St. Louis police headquarters Monday to announce his latest step to pull up the welcome mat for illegal immigrants in Missouri.
Blunt proposed making it illegal for "illegals" to get a drivers license. Blunt's Democratic challenger, Attorney General Jay Nixon, wasted no time in pointing out that such a law already exists.
In fact, when questioned about the need for this "new" law, Blunt admitted that of the 110 people arrested since he ordered state Highway Patrol officers to check the immigration status of everyone they pull over, only one was found to have a drivers license.
Governor Matt Blunt was on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" last week to discuss his new order that everyone pulled over by the Highway Patrol must have their immigration status checked.
The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis warned that the executive order could lead to more racial profiling. Jorge Riopedre, the group's secretary and legislative affairs chairman, told the Post-Dispatch that law enforcement agencies may single out "Hispanic-looking'' people, and take them directly to an immigration judge. He predicted that legal immigrants or citizens could find themselves unfairly forced to prove their status.
"This is not about illegal immigration. It's about due process,'' Riopedre told the Post.
