DMV encourages illegal aliens to get a license before law changes

This is just nuts! Wisconsin's Department of Motor vehicles is holding seminars (in Spanish) trying to get illegal aliens to get a Wisconsin drivers license before April, when the law will prohibit non-citizens from receiving a license.

Rep. Suder and Sen. Grothman: Blast DMV Officials for Encouraging Illegal Aliens to Beat Deadline on License Law

Madison… State Representative Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) and State Senator Glenn Grothman (R- West Bend) blasted the State Department of Motor Vehicles today after a DMV employee participated in a recent seminar prompting illegal aliens to apply for state driver’s licenses. Suder and Grothman said the Department appears to be deliberately encouraging illegal aliens to beat the April deadline for a new state law that bars non-citizens from receiving state driver’s licenses and ID cards. The lawmakers called the seminar a “complete betrayal of the public’s trust” and demanded that the DMV immediately end all future classes and forums.

“The DMV seems to care more about sliding illegal aliens through the licensing line than it does about allowing law-abiding citizens and their children to get their driver’s licenses,” added Suder. “No wonder Wisconsin’s young people are waiting months to get a driver’s test.”

According to the January 24, 2007, edition of The Janesville Gazette, more than 30 people attended a forum which was offered in Spanish at the Janesville YWCA where a DMV employee encouraged participants who cannot prove their citizenship to apply for a driver’s license before the new law goes into effect in April. The lawmakers said the employee even offered tips on how to circumvent the license law by urging audience members who are NOT legal citizens to renew their current licenses before the April deadline. It also appears that the DMV may be scheduling additional exam times and testing periods to accommodate undocumented applicants.

“It is beyond belief that the Department of Transportation is diverting resources from providing driver’s tests for law abiding citizen,” said Grothman. “Instead, they are spending time to send the message that our immigration laws are to be ignored.”

The lawmakers said Governor Doyle should immediately order the department to cancel any future classes and work to enforce the citizenship requirements now rather than waiting until April.