Eddie Garcia - endorser

Consultant - EVG Consulting Co.
La Grande, Oregon

As an immigrant, my parents chose the USA for a better life not just for themselves but for me. One of the first things they realized was to show gratitude to this new country and its people, we needed to learn English to assimilate and become a woven part of the American fabric. We haven't looked back.

Oregon's SB 833 is bad public policy but it opens the door to so many other issues that continue to erode our values, culture and what we stand for as Americans.

Republicans and Democrats passed SB 833 to cater to a segment of the Oregon public to curry favor for votes and to me that is wrong. Pandering for votes is not the way we show respect for our country or honor those who have sacrificed their lives for our country.

Rewarding illegal aliens with a driver's license dishonors the millions of immigrants, like my parents, who came to the USA via legal means and sacrificed to be an American citizen.

This driver's card, essentially a driver's license, gives illegals a wide open door to traffic drugs through our state for sale here or elsewhere. Human trafficking is another daunting consequence of this bad legislation.

Moreover, nothing in the law requires these recipients to learn English so that they can effectively communicate with us and emergency responders on the road.

Even more of a slap in the face of this bill is that for an American to get a license, we must show a long list of documents and God forbid something is awry, we are stopped in our tracks and told to go home, get the right documents and come back for the line.

An illegal alien is only required two forms of documents both of which have no process for securing their attainment and is ripe for fraud. Why should we as Americans be forced to jump through a myriad of hoops when these illegal aliens basically get called to the front of the line?

Another consequence is that Oregon law prohibits police officers from detaining illegals in our state using public dollars. Well, what this law effectively accomplishes is that it further handcuffs police from doing their job of securing our state and keeping criminals off the street.

With this driver's card, an illegal alien can now drive in our state with no fear of getting pulled over or detained because unless they have committed another crime, the officer must let them go upon showing the license or in the alternative to the law being passed, they would have been arrested for driving without a license and the illegal status would have been triggered.

Help repeal this bad law for Oregon and for our great country. Vote NO on the veto referendum in the November 2014 election.

Mr. Garcia formerly worked on the staff of U.S. Senator Connie Mack as deputy press secretary and was the Chief of Staff to state Senator Burt L. Saunders of Naples, Florida.

Mr. Garcia has over 15 years of experience in marketing, branding, public relations, advertising, government affairs and political campaign strategy. Mr. Garcia held the position of managing director for Hill & Knowlton, an international public relations firm with offices in more than 190 cities. In that position, he managed the day-to-day operations of the Ft. Lauderdale office, which involved client relations, working closely with account executives, and developing and executing campaigns to meet and exceed client needs.

Recently, Mr. Garcia advocated for the passage of House Bill 262 in the Tennessee General Assembly. The bill would have required the Tennessee driver’s license exam be administered in English for public safety, to save taxpayer dollars and to encourage legal immigrants to learn English.

Mr. Garcia continues to advise political candidates and issues across our great country.