News Articles, Op-eds, and Letters

To support Measure 88, which would allow Oregon to give “driver cards” to people who can’t prove they have the legal right to be in the U.S., you have to believe, among other things, that most illegal immigrants in the state don’t drive.

We’ve not seen any compelling evidence that this is true.

Most generally, people don’t defy U.S. immigration laws unless they have a job here. Most people drive to work. Given that nobody denies that thousands of illegal immigrants are working today in Oregon, it’s beyond dispute that many of those workers, and probably most of them, are...

On May Day last year Governor Kitzhaber wielded a pen in front of 2,000 cheering supporters and signed Senate Bill 833 into law.

The bill allows driver cards for those who can’t prove they’re here legally. It passed the 2013 legislature with bipartisan support.

But in the months following that May Day rally, opponents of the bill gathered just enough signatures to put the driver card issue to voters. The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles estimates that the bill affects tens of thousands of Oregonians who can’t currently drive legally.

That’s why Reyna Lopez is at...

This week I published a story about Measure 88, a referendum on state law that allows driver cards for Oregonians who can’t prove they’re in the country legally. Read the full story here, but below I address a few of the most-discussed issues surrounding Measure 88 in more detail.

Would people who get driver cards be required to purchase vehicle insurance?
Just like any driver who gets a license from Oregon’s Department of Motor Vehicles, anyone who wants a driver card will need to provide proof of vehicle insurance for the car they drive for the test.

But they don’t...

The In My View opinion Sept. 18 by Marilyn Burwell on Measure 88 glosses over some realities regarding auto insurance and driver’s licenses and the hoped-for driver cards. Insurance is not required to obtain a driver’s license, nor would it be for the hoped-for driver cards. Nothing compels a driver wanting a license or card to obtain any insurance, period. But it would be nice if it were a compulsory requirement.

Vehicles are required to be insured, not the driver. Consider all of the uninsured vehicles on the road, the fact that they are there does not increase nor decrease...

“Immigrant families illegally in U.S. fail to report as ordered,” a Sept. 26 article reported. What a shock!

Did anyone seriously believe the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who recently flooded across our southern border would later show up to meet with federal immigration agents?

They’re staying, and joining the 11 million illegal immigrants already here. Some will come to Oregon, where Gov. John Kitzhaber is reported to have said they’ll be “welcomed with open arms.”

The governor and Lane County’s Democratic legislators want us to pass Measure 88 on Nov. 4...

Editor’s note: Because she reported on the driver-card issue for Friday’s Argus Observer, Assistant Editor Leslie Thompson has recused herself from this editorial.

In a little over a month, Oregon voters will decide the fate of Measure 88, which upholds four-year driver cards for people who cannot prove they are legal U.S. citizens.

It’s an issue with passionate supporters and opponents. The Argus editorial board heard this week from four people who urged our support for the driver card. They made some good points, but at this time, we can’t endorse the cards.

Jeff...

Editor’s note: Because she reported on the driver-card issue for Friday’s Argus Observer, Assistant Editor Leslie Thompson has recused herself from this editorial.

In a little over a month, Oregon voters will decide the fate of Measure 88, which upholds four-year driver cards for people who cannot prove they are legal U.S. citizens.

It’s an issue with passionate supporters and opponents. The Argus editorial board heard this week from four people who urged our support for the driver card. They made some good points, but at this time, we can’t endorse the cards.

Jeff...

The action by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and the state Legislature on Senate Bill 833 last year granting some form of Oregon driver's license, called a driver's card, to foreign nationals illegally present in the state, passed in part under the pretense that the legislation was a matter of public safety.

But the law is disconnected from the reality of driving in our state, considering the previous dangers illegal immigrant drivers have posed to Oregonians.

In a series of annual reports required by an Oregon law (House Bill 3624) the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)...

It’s getting really hard to read The Register-Guard when it promotes illegal immigrant driver cards.

The Sept. 14 editorial (“Approve driver card measure”) only encourages more immigrants to come to the United States illegally.

It appears the editors need to get a dictionary so they can look up the meaning of the word illegal. Political correctness is going to destroy our country if it’s not forcefully countered.

On Aug. 1, the Oregon Secretary of State’s Elections Office assigned a title to the Protect Oregon Driver Licenses citizen’s veto referendum #301, Ballot Measure 88, to put before the state’s voters Senate Bill 833.

The passage of Ballot Measure 88 by the state’s voters during the upcoming Nov. 4 general election would require the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles to grant to persons “who cannot prove legal presence in the United States” a special state-issued identification called a driver card.

In reaction to state driver card legislation, current and past members of...