Georgia - you may have to speak english to get a drivers license

[THE KOD]

Senate passes English-only driver?s license exams
3:12 pm March 10, 2009, by Mary Lou Pickel

English would be the only language for a driver?s license exam in Georgia under a bill that passed the Senate Tuesday.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jack Murphy (R-Cumming) said the rule is needed for safety on the highway. The measure passed 37 to 14 and still needs to pass the House before it could be signed into law.

Murphy displayed road signs in the Senate chamber from foreign countries in foreign languages.

?I?m just trying to show a comparison between you driving in that country and someone who doesn?t understand English driving in our country,? Murphy told his colleagues.

?People need to be able to drive safely on our roads and read overhead signs,? Murphy said.

Opponents of Senate Bill 67 said it would be discriminatory against those not proficient in English. It would allow a driver?s license official to read the test to illiterate Georgians who can?t read street signs in any language, but would require foreigners who read another language to take the written exam in English.

The bill only applies to immigrants who are permanent residents of the United States who intend to stay here indefinitely. It does not apply to foreign visitors who come for short periods of time to visit or work.

Georgia offers driver?s license exams in English and about a dozen other languages.

About 5,000 people per month opt for one of the other languages, said Lester Hammond, director of legislative affairs for the Georgia Department of Driver Services.

The most popular languages aside from English are, Spanish, Japanese and Korean, in that order, Hammond said. Many people ask for the exam in Hindi, but the department doesn?t offer it, he said.

Supporters of the bill argued at a hearing before a Senate committee last month that permanent residents in the United States should speak English.

D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society, an anti-illegal immigration group, spoke in favor of the bill, saying it?s necessary for public safety.
He also mentioned the biblical Tower of Babel, and said those who want to give the exam in many languages are in favor of ?tearing the country apart and creating chaos.?

During the Senate debate Tuesday Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus) expressed concern that peach and cotton farms would be negatively affected because their workforce would not be able to get driver?s licenses to drive farm trucks.

?We are totally and completely dependent on migrant labor,? Hooks said of his region of the state.

Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland) was one of the few Republicans to vote against the bill. He represents the Fort Benning area, which has a huge population of military personnel.

Many Latin Americans attend the U.S. Army School of the Americas there, Harp said. He did not want to make it more difficult for visiting military to get a driver?s license, he said.
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Give the army people temp licenses.

The people that live in Georgia should have to be able to speak and read english .

If we go to fawking Mexico and decide to live there, and we go get a drivers license, I can guarantee you it wont be in english.

wtf is this world of ours . Are we America.

How did we allow the right wingers to get us into this situation :scared

 

[THE KOD]

My wife and I go to Home Depot here in Georgia this past weekend.

I send her to get some nails while I load up some wood fence I was putting in the backyard.

She comes back with a brochere that is only in spanish. Nothing in english.

Who are they catering to now ?

wtf

America . Where have we gone :sadwave:

 

[THE KOD]

Justice Dept. Investigates Arizona Sheriff for Enforcing Immigration Law
Thursday, March 12, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, left, orders approximately 200 convicted illegal immigrants handcuffed together and moved into a separate area of Tent City, inmates behind Arpaio, for incarceration until their sentences are served and they are deported to their home countries Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009, in Phoenix.(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.

Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Robert Scott (D-Va.) requested the investigation, and activists groups such as National Day Laborer Organizer Network and ACORN launched petition drives and rallies in support of the probe.

The investigation focuses on Sheriff Joe Arpaio and dozens of officers under his command who were trained through the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS), which partners federal and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. (The Homeland Security?s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division is known popularly as ICE.)

In a letter dated March 10, 2009, Loretta Smith, acting assistant attorney general at the DOJ, detailed what her department would be investigating:

"This is to inform you that the United States Department of Justice is commencing an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (''MCSO'') pursuant to the pattern or practice provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,42 U.S.C. ?14141 ("Section 14141") and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,42 U.S.C. ? 3789d ("Safe Streets Act"), and pursuant to the prohibitions against national origin discrimination in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,42 U.S.C. ?? 2000d to 2000d-7 ("Title Yr') and the Safe Streets Act, 42 U.S.C. ? 3789d(c)."

The letter continues: "The investigation will focus on alleged patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures conducted by the MCSO, and on allegations of national origin discrimination, including failure to provide meaningful access to MCSO services for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals."

"In conducting the investigation, we will seek to determine whether there are violations of the above laws by the MCSO," the letter says.

Sheriff Arpaio's efforts to enforce immigration laws have been the focus of previous criticism, but Arpaio has defended his department and the results his ICE-trained officers have netted.

Concerning the DOJ?s investigation, Arpaio told CNSNews.com: ?I will not back down. What I am doing is upholding the laws of the state of Arizona, and I will not be persuaded to turn my back on my oath of office as sheriff of this county.?

In an August 2008 press release, Arpaio's office detailed those results.

"While the Sheriff?s illegal immigration and human smuggling operations conducted on the streets and roadways here have netted nearly 2,300 arrests, another very successful effort to locate illegal aliens has been quietly happening inside Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio?s jails," the release said.

It continues: "Despite the growing criticism of the Sheriff?s illegal immigration fight by some valley politicians and activists, Sheriff Arpaio says 60 detention officers trained by ICE officials have conducted over 106,000 interviews and investigations of inmates booked into jail since April of 2007.

"In those 18 months, 16,000 inmates were determined to be illegal aliens. Either they have already been deported or will be deported after being tried and/or serving their sentences for crimes committed in the valley. The work being done be Arpaio?s detention staff is a likely contributor to the recent reduction in crime in the valley,? the press release added.

"That number of 16,000 represents a full one-third (1/3) of all inmates in the United States who have had holds placed on them after being identified by jail or prison officials as illegal aliens."

The press release goes on to say that 20 percent of inmates in the Maricopa County Jail are illegal aliens and that of those, 2,000 illegal aliens - 70 percent - were arrested for felony crimes.

Those felony crimes committed included the following: forgery, 12 percent; kidnapping, 10 percent; aggravated assault, 7 percent; driving under the influence, 7 percent; drug charges, 27 percent; robbery, 3 percent; murder, 3 percent; and theft, 4 percent.

The Democratic Congress members have also asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to launch an investigation into the training provided by ICE.

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Wprophet at 02:57 PM - March 12, 2009

Investigate Sheriff Joe - for keeping his oath of office and enforcing the law? You gotta be kidding. The former governor-come Secretary of Homeland Security (now that's a joke!) are the ones who ought to be investigated. Along with the AZ Atty General for refusing to obey their oath of office and refusal to support duly constituted law. One law breaker has moved to Washington and the other hopes to fill her slot. We the people of Maricopa County are fed up with the top pols breaking the law, their oath of office, and betraying the public trust. It was the former Gov who is behind this harassment called an investigation. Investigate Goddard and go back and investigate Nappy,; then investigate the African usurper in the White House. Sheriff Joe is the duly elected and Constitutional official in this county. The Feds, who won't do their job, are not wanted by 2/3 of the voters that put the Sherrif back into office - again, and again, and again. We did it because he UPHOLDS the

Reality Check at 02:52 PM - March 12, 2009