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If there was a valid licensed driver driving the vehicle, the Geneseo police chief, Eric Osganian, said in a statement after the two sisters were pulled over, there would have been no need to call Border Patrol to confirm the ID of the driver.

As many as 12 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, offer drivers licenses for unauthorized immigrants, up from three in 2010. New York, which has the third-largest immigrant population in the country, is not one of them.

In large sections of the United States, unauthorized immigrants drive without a license anyway to work, to shop or to take their children to school or other activities. Carlos Cardona, 28, who works on a dairy farm outside of Rochester, said he had no choice the night his infant daughters fever spiked. He drove to get her medicine. I know we are in another country that is not our own, and I dont like breaking the law, he said in an interview in Spanish, but when it comes to my family, I have to take risks.

Luis Jimenez, 33, another dairy worker who said that he drove without a license, said: We are workers. We are not here to harm anybody. We need things to advance.

Supporters of efforts to allow those who are undocumented to get drivers licenses say that public safety would improve because they would be required to pass road tests and obtain insurance. But critics said that licenses represented a privilege that unauthorized immigrants should not hold, because they should not be here in the first place.

Outside of Rochester, Tony Bartolucci, a pastor, and his daughter were struck by an unlicensed, undocumented driver on their way to buying a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve in 2015. His daughter, Giana, 14, died six months later after brain surgery.

It was the second time that he was caught in the country illegally, Mr. Bartolucci said. And both times were due to his being drunk while driving. Obviously, if he wasnt in the country illegally, it wouldnt have happened either. But Im not going to make a political point about it.

He believes in restricting illegal immigration and thinks that giving drivers licenses to people in the country illegally is just a non sequitur. But at the same time, Mr. Bartolucci said, he has forgiven his daughters killer.

While Connecticut and Vermont enacted laws in 2013 that allow noncitizens to obtain licenses, a similar effort in New York has made little progress in more than a decade.

In 2007, Gov. Eliot Spitzer ordered that unauthorized immigrants be given licenses, but within two months, he was forced to rescind the order under pressure from upstate county clerks serving as officers of the Department of Motor Vehicles who refused to enforce it. Bills supporting the idea have been introduced in the State Assembly the last three years, but in June, another legislative session ended without a bill for limited purpose drivers licenses getting out of the transportation committee.

Advocates for a grass-roots campaign, Green Light NY: Driving Together, to offer the licenses considered this years effort a test run for next year. They emphasized the public safety aspect of having noncitizen licenses so that all drivers know the rules of the road and carry insurance.

Senator Kathleen A. Marchione, a Republican representing the Upper Hudson Valley, was the president of the New York State Association of County Clerks when it opposed Gov. Spitzers initiative in 2007. She does not understand the argument for giving licenses to those who are undocumented.

Driving without a license should not give you a right to have a drivers license when you are already breaking the law in two instances, she said in an interview. Thats like saying if a kid is drinking at 16 years old, we might as well let him.

Senator Marchione said that the associations main objection in 2007 still stands: that creating a license designated for unauthorized immigrants could enable would-be terrorists to obtain identification. (Some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used state drivers licenses to check in for their flights.)

The Assembly bill, proposed by a Queens Democrat, Francisco Moya, however, would ensure that the card would not be legal for federal purposes boarding an airplane or entering federal buildings.

In New York State, drivers licenses are offered to green card holders with Social Security numbers, and those with temporary visitor or work visas, including recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Applicants must provide proof of residence and forms of identification that are weighted on a point scale.

Anne Doebler, a private immigration lawyer in Buffalo, said that undocumented immigrants want to follow traffic laws, and that civil law and immigration law should be kept distinct. Why do we want to use our vehicle and traffic laws to enforce an immigration policy when its detrimental to public safety? she asked.

I dont want someone to hit me who doesnt have insurance, she said. I dont care what their immigration status is.

A recent report out of Stanford University in California, which started issuing drivers licenses for undocumented residents in 2015, examined the public safety aspect of the law. With 600,000 new licensed drivers who were undocumented in 2015, hit-and-run accidents decreased significantly, by 4,000, from the year before.

According to a report by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, more than 752,000 undocumented immigrants would be eligible for drivers licenses in New York State, and of that number, roughly 265,000 would apply. Taxes and fees could assist the annual economy in counties and the state by $57 million, the report showed.

The Westchester villages of Mamaroneck, Ossining and Port Chester issued resolutions in support of the State Assembly bill earlier this year. So did Ithaca, Hudson and Irvington.

We think that people should be able to drive so that they can be productive members of the community, as well as being properly licensed and insured, said Nancy Seligson, the Mamaroneck town supervisor.

Recently, Alberto, a 32-year-old Mexican man living in Ulster County for the last 11 years, was on his way to visit his sick mother-in-law in Florida when a police officer pulled his car over. His wife had been breast-feeding their infant while the car was moving. That was illegal.

Alberto, who declined to give his last name because of his immigration status, said in a recent interview that he was arrested that night in Georgia. His car was impounded because he had no license to drive it. He was able to get the car back and plead to lesser charges, he said, but those charges have not yet been reduced. He could still face deportation.

Back in New York, he continues to drive, always looking over his shoulder. I have to be perfect, he said.

An earlier version of this article misstated where a recently arrested 32-year-old driver lived. He lives in Ulster County, not Westchester.

Sandra E. Garcia contributed reporting.

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Driving While Undocumented, and Facing the Risks - New York Times

In a piece by the New York Times Ron Nixon, the political reporter propped up a slew of Washington establishment figures from previous administrations to set a tone that Trumps work on ending illegal immigration is opposed by Americans.

The critics quoted by the Times, who are actually former Obama and Bush officials, say Trumps priority of stopping illegal border crossings and prosecuting illegal immigrant crimes is single-minded:

The address in January, critics said, reflected the presidents nearly single-minded priority for the Department of Homeland Security, which employs nearly 250,000 people in seven agencies.

Its all immigration, its the wall and its enforcement, said Juliette Kayyem, a Homeland Security official in the Obama administration. Nothing about FEMA or cyber or counterintelligence, she added, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Just immigration all the time.

After allowing the Trump Administration to defend itself against the false attack, where they correctly noted Trumps appointment to head up FEMA, Brock Long, has a resume of expertise in emergency management, the New York Times used a former Bush official to attack the administration:

Illegal immigration was the centerpiece of Mr. Trumps presidential campaign, drawing large crowds as he promised to build a border wall and deport millions in the country illegally. But security experts said the country faces a number of continuing threats ranging from domestic terrorists to attacks from political extremists and cyberattacks against the nations election systems that demand the full attention of the Department of Homeland Security.

John Kelly and his staff have a wide portfolio, said Tom Ridge, who served as the first Homeland Security secretary, under President George W. Bush. I hope the White House realizes that they have an enormous job in protecting the border and the nations infrastructure from cyberattacks. They cant be used just to keep campaign promises.

The Times also used Rep. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to slam the Trump Administrations pro-American policy initiatives on immigration.

During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Kelly came across as this person who would be a moderating voice in the Trump administration, someone who would speak truth to power, Harris told the New York paper. But thats not what were seeing from him as secretary of Homeland Security. Under him, this agency has seemed eager to carry out the destructive immigration policies of this administration.

Former Obama official Leon Panetta, on the other hand, told the Times that he doubts believe DHS Secretary Kellys support for Trumps crackdown.

John Kelly is being a good Marine, Panetta said. He was loyal to me, and hes loyal to his commander in chief. I dont think some of the things the department is doing reflect the views of John Kelly.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at@JxhnBinder.

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NYT Lets Obama, Bush Alums Grieve Illegal Immigration Crackdown - Breitbart News

California and New York will become the first states to allow illegal immigrants to practice law and be sworn in as lawyers. In so doing, they will grant the privilege of upholding the law and defending the U.S. Constitution to people who have intentionally violated the rules, and who have no right whatsoever to be here.

One such lawyer is Lizbeth Mateo. Born in Mexico, Mateo and her family illegally crossed the border when she was 14 and have been residing in California ever since. In 2013, Mateo returned to Mexico knowing she had no legal visa to come back and, as part of what became known as the Bring Them Home Campaign, returned to the U.S. border with eight other children and demanded unauthorized reentry into the U.S. which she was granted. Having graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law and working jobs that required the use of a stolen social security number, Mateo now spends her time as an immigration lawyer preparing legal strategies to help undocumented immigrants stay in the country all while flaunting her own undocumented status.

This example illustrates the extent to which certain states both accept and encourage illegal immigration. Mateo is praised for being a leader and a bold advocate but should instead be described as what she is: a lawbreaker. Mateo has taken an oath of office to uphold the Constitution, but breaks federal law every day. Square that circle.

How radical is this development? Consider that even the Obama administration opposed the possibility of illegal immigrants practicing law. Specifically, the White House objected to Sergio C. Garcia, who attempted to get high court approval for his law license after passing the bar. In a brief from the Justice Department, the administration stated that federal law prohibits giving a public benefit, such as a bar license, to an unlawfully present alien since the relevant statue was plainly designed to preclude undocumented aliens from receiving commercial and professional licenses issued by states and the federal government.

This country has undoubtedly moved left since President Obama took office, but to reach a point at which unauthorized aliens can practice and uphold the very laws they routinely break represents a profound illustration of the lack of respect we have come to exhibit for our system and the principles it ostensibly undergirds.

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Illegal Immigrants Can Now Defend the Laws They Break - National Review

Rep. Pete King stands with parents of MS-13 murder victims Kyla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens. (Photo via Twitter)

Rep. Pete King called Long Islands top law enforcement officials to a wood-paneled courtroom at the federal courthouse in Central Islip for a field hearing of the House Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee, which King chairs.

It was just two miles down the road from the park where the bodies of four murdered young men had been found just two months before, in the latest deaths attributed to the gang members of Mara Salvatrucha, best known as MS-13.

King led the questioning, asking officials from the FBI and the Suffolk County Police Department about what could be done to shut down MS-13. The gang is responsible for at least 11 Suffolk County murders in the past year, many of them targeted killings of teenagers.

RELATED: How Pete King learned to stop worrying and love the Donald

It appears MS-13 has gamed the system, King said. According to him, many of the gang members came into the country by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as unaccompanied minors. The young people, mostly from El Salvador, are picked up there and sent to live with family and friends in Central Islip and the surrounding towns while they await their immigration hearings.

We have to be careful about how we address it. Could be interpreted the wrong way, said King, with illegal immigration being such a controversial topic. It could turn the community against us, and we need community support.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions faced protests in Central Islip when he spoke in April about cracking down on MS-13. Many in the community fear President Donald Trumps administration will use the violence as pretext for more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws and widespread deportations.

RELATED: A timeline of Pete King's on-again, off-again support of Trump

While many of the MS-13 gang members are Spanish-speaking immigrants, so are most of the victims. King said that because many in the area are undocumented or dont speak English, the violence has stayed out of the news. The average person is barely aware of the horrible nature of these deaths and the fact that theyre occurring, he said. Its confined to an area where the people cant even yell that much because theyre afraid of drawing attention to themselves.

One of the solutions suggested at the congressional hearing was better oversight for unaccompanied minors. Somebody suggested they each be assigned caseworkers. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini agreed: If we don't provide for these unaccompanied minors, MS-13 will.

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Pete King: Cracking down on illegal immigration to curb gang violence 'could be interpreted the wrong way' - City & State

The significant downturn in the number of illegal border crossers between the U.S. and Mexico is "nothing short of miraculous," National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said on C-SPAN Monday.

"As far as the Trump administration's efforts on immigration, this is something they campaigned heavily on," he said. "At six months, where we are on meeting those promises, we are seeing nothing short of miraculous. If you look at the rhetoric that President Trump has given, it has caused a number of illegal border crossings to go down. We have never seen such a drop that we currently have."

"There's a vibe, there's an energy in the Border Patrol that's never been there before in 20 years that I've been in the patrol," Judd added in a separate Fox News interview.

This month, Customs and Border Protection reported a 53 percent decrease in the number of apprehensions at the southwest border since last year. The number also includes those deemed inadmissible. CBP sees apprehensions as a proxy for how many people are trying to cross the border, and says the drop in apprehensions indicates a drop in attempted illegal crossings.

Judd said the Trump administration commanded in two executive orders for border agents to fully carry out related laws, while the Obama administration kept agents from doing their jobs as was intended.

The nonpartisan Border Patrol union endorsed Trump during last year's election, making it the first time it backed a presidential candidate, a move Judd said was done "strictly based upon border security."

The Homeland Security funding bill included $1.6 billion funding for the southern border wall. Judd added that the wall is necessary for select parts of the border, but indicated the entire U.S.-Mexico border does not require a full fence.

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Border Patrol union chief praises 'miraculous' drop in illegal ... - Washington Examiner