FAQ - Questions on Oregon Ballot Measure 88

Oregon Ballot Measure 88 is a citizen's veto referendum on SB 833, a bill passed in 2013 by the Oregon Legislature which would grant official driver cards to persons who cannot prove legal presence in the U.S.

Oregonians for Immigration Reform opposes the bill and was successful in gathering enough signatures to put the bill before voters for a Yes or No vote in the November 2014 general election. Citizens will have the opportunity to overturn SB 833 by voting NO on Ballot Measure 88, and the result will be that illegal aliens will not be accommodated with official driver cards.

PODL defeated Oregon Ballot Measure 88 with 35 of 36 counties voting NO on 88. See voting results by Oregon county.

No, it doesn't make our roads safer! “Public safety” is the attempted selling point used by advocates of driver cards for illegal aliens, but it is a red herring to divert attention from the more serious issues involved. SB 833 does not make the state, our citizens, our legal residents or our roads any safer.

Our opponents claim that if illegal aliens could get official driver cards they could buy auto insurance, reducing the number of uninsured drivers that leave their victims with costly repair or medical bills.

Illegal aliens can buy insurance now - but, most often choose not to.

A person can get a driver license without obtaining car insurance. Auto insurance is tied to a vehicle. Applicants for driver licenses must take a road test, but if the car is borrowed to use for the test, and the applicant passes the driving test, he/she can obtain a license without purchasing insurance. Even if a driver owns the car and has insurance at the time the driver card is issued, the insurance can be dropped at any time, and often is.

If driver card holders had to buy insurance, don't you think the insurance companies would be all over this campaign as endorsers and financial supporters? They're not. 

New Mexico, which grants driver licenses to illegal aliens, continues to rank near the top of the list of states with the most uninsured drivers.

Oregon law requires car owners to purchase auto insurance. However, people that are inclined to pick and choose which laws they want to obey and which they choose to ignore, are much less likely to purchase auto insurance. Typically, someone illegally in the country, working here illegally and likely using a fraudulent identity is not likely to see the need to purchase auto insurance. They do, however, want the state issued ID - a driver card!

In response to the question, "Can I use a Driver Card as identification to board an airplane?" a document by the Oregon Division of Motor Vehicles states: "It will be up to the TSA or the individual airport to determine whether to accept the Driver Card as identification."

A TSA spokesman in Oregon wrote to journalist Lars Larson, stating: "Driver’s licenses are a valid form of ID for TSA."

PolitiFact Oregon then contacted Nico Melendez, a Western Region TSA spokesman in California. Melendez checked with Oregon officials and administration attorneys, and then stated that "State-issued driver cards would be acceptable forms of identification for our document-checkers at the airport. At this point, the understanding is that a card like this would be an acceptable form of identification."

Businesses that profit from employing illegal labor, special interest groups and ethnic lobbies, political organizations that expect to gain power from open borders or oppose immigration restrictions for other reasons, and some church bureaucracies. Several of these groups have contributed large sums of money to try to influence voters to support driver cards for illegal aliens.

The "YES on Oregon Safe Roads" coalition raised $610,894.29 in 2014 to support driver cards for persons illegally present in the state, according to the Secretary of State's ORESTAR website summary. This list of contributors to the YES coalition is from reports by the YES coalition to ORESTAR and covers the period May 2 to October 4, 2014:

• ACLU of Oregon contributed $2,500.
• AG PAC (3) contributed $1,000.
• Basic Rights Oregon contributed $10,000.
• CAUSA of Oregon contributed $43,530.
• Committee to Elect Brad Avakian (4152) contributed $1,200.
• Committee to Re-Elect Peter Buckley contributed $500.
• Dairy PAC contributed $2,000.
• *Forward Together contributed $5,486.
• Friends of Rod Park (5715) contributed $500.
• Northwest Health Foundation contributed $10,000.
• Nurses United PAC (12987) contributed $2,500.
• ORLA PAC (193) Restaurant, Lodging & Hospitality Industry contributed $4,000.
• Oregon AFSCME Council (75) contributed $5,000.
• Oregon Business Association PAC (3073) contributed $1,200.
• Oregon County Fair contributed $500.
• Oregon Nurseries PAC (175) contributed $15,000.
• Oregon Voice contributed $47,581.
• PCUN Pineros Y. Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Inc. contributed $2,500.
• School Employees Exercising Democracy (249) contributed $20,000.
• SEIU 49 Committee on Political Education (4213) contributed $20,000.
• SEIU Local 503 contributed $77,500.
• Spanish Communications contributed $150.
• The Bus Project contributed $10,907.
• *United Food and Commercial Workers Union contributed $25,000.
• Miscellaneous contributions of $2,000 or less, $13,114.

* Asterisk indicates an out-of-state contributor.

Total Contributions - $323,184 reported and posted on the SOS ORESTAR website as of October 4, 2014. Later contributions will add to this amount.

We have NO way of knowing to whom we are giving state-issued ID. According to the new law, the Matricula Consular would be an acceptable form of ID to get a driver card, yet it is one of the least reliable forms of identification. The FBI does not consider it to be reliable and so stated at a Congressional Hearing. There is no way the DMV can accurately certify the identity of the thousands of illegal aliens who will apply for driver cards.

Our opponents claim to have the support of Law Enforcement. But, the Sheriffs of Oregon and many others from several branches of law enforcement, including Border Patrol, have endorsed our efforts to overturn this bad law and have thrown their full support behind us. This law makes Oregon less safe. See endorsers of Protect Oregon Driver Licenses.

It is more important now, than ever before, to require proof of citizenship or legal status with recent terrorist threats and the increase of illegal drug activity led by deadly Mexican drug cartels now operating in Oregon. Also illegal immigrants consistently constitute a high percentage of the criminal aliens in Oregon prisons; see these crime statistics.

No, there are many things that states can do to help the federal government control illegal immigration. One of the most important tools available to states is the restriction of driver licenses only to persons who can prove they are bona fide U.S. citizens or legal residents.

For a brief summary of what states can do to help control illegal immigration, see this interview with Kris Kobach, Secretary of State for Kansas and a renowned former law professor: Kris Kobach: Immigration isn't just a federal matter.

Illegal immigration is a serious problem in the U.S. Neglect of enforcement of the immigration laws, over the past several decades as well as currently, has resulted in millions of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. without inspection, a dangerous situation from the standpoint of national security and public health.

For example, the 19 September 11 terrorists carried among them over 30 state driver's licenses and identification cards using over 300 aliases. These documents allowed them to obtain housing, transportation and other accommodations without raising suspicion while they planned and executed their deadly conspiracy that fateful day.

Accommodating illegal aliens invites more to come. Recent history clearly shows this.

Illegal immigration inflates the population, further burdening our already-stressed natural environment. It adversely affects the labor market and swamps our overburdened entitlement programs. Citizens are forced to compete with illegal aliens for jobs, causing significant unemployment and wage depression. Loss of respect for the rule of law grows as a consequence of such legislation. Observance of the rule of law is essential for a successful economy and a civil society.