For former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, the debate about illegal immigrants and drivers’ licenses that comply with the federal Real ID Act comes down to four words: respect for the law.
Or, in the case of Maryland’s Legislature, that would be DISRESPECT for the law.
The day after our poltroonish legislators defied federal law by passing a “compromise” bill that allows Maryland’s estimated 350,000 illegal immigrants with drivers’ licenses to renew them, Ehrlich was in Richard Vatz’s persuasion class on the campus of Towson University in Baltimore County. The ex-governor asked students to give their arguments on three topics: the death penalty, speed cameras and that nettlesome matter of drivers’ licenses for illegal immigrants.
Ehrlich quickly put the kibosh on any debate about speed cameras when he asked for a show of hands of students who truly believe that the law was passed as a safety and not a revenue-raising measure. Not one student raised a hand.
“Any reporters here take note,” Ehrlich said. “Not one student at this great school bought that phony argument (that the speed camera law was passed for safety).”
The issue of the death penalty’s “racial disparity” came up, perhaps inevitably. Ehrlich noted that it is one of the main arguments used by those who want to abolish capital punishment. He wisely steered clear of mentioning the racial disparity in felony murder, which is how murderers end up on death row in the first place.
According to FBI supplementary homicide reports for the years 1976-2005, 54.7 percent of felony murder victims were white. Some 59.3 percent of felony murder offenders were black. Had Ehrlich dared to suggest that we put ALL racial disparities on the table and discuss the one for felony homicide, his critics would have quickly branded him the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.
Hey, that’s easier than explaining the felony murder racial disparity.
The longest discussion during Ehrlich’s visit to the TU persuasion class was about those drivers’ licenses for illegal immigrants. For that, he gave a little background about when he was governor.
“Because of political decisions made in Maryland, contrary to my wishes,” Ehrlich noted, “we have become a sanctuary state. Maryland continues to defy federal law, and is doing it in a spectacular way.”
Maryland is the ONLY state east of the Rocky Mountains that was not in compliance with the Real ID Act. After last week’s “compromise,” Maryland remains the only state east of the Rockies not in compliance. Ehrlich is not OK with that.
“All it does,” Ehrlich said on the matter of drivers’ licenses, in particular, and turning a blind eye to illegal immigration, in general, “is increase disrespect for the law.”
But some Maryland legislators, when it comes to illegal immigration, drivers’ licenses and compliance with the Real ID Act, are quite OK with an increasing disrespect for the law. Read Montgomery County Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez’s comments on the matter, as reported on WBAL.com:
“(Gutierrez) called (the compromise legislation) a ‘bad bill,’ adding non-U.S. citizens will still drive, but with expired licenses. She says that jeopardizes safety on the roads.”
Here’s the kicker, a direct quote from Gutierrez as reported by WBAL.com: “It’s not a compromise. It’s been dictated by the Republican, anti-immigrant group. This is the wrong solution, and it’s being pushed through by intransigent forces who are really going to harm the public safety of the state.”
While you ponder how so much sheer, shameless demagoguery can be contained in just three sentences, allow me to translate what Gutierrez means. “Intransigent” folks are people who insist that immigration laws and the Real ID Act be obeyed and enforced. This clearly does not work for people who might happen to be in Gutierrez’s ethnic group, so those “intransigents” are anti-immigrant (not anti-illegal immigrant) and, worst of all, REPUBLICANS.
Gutierrez is OK with immigrants who are here illegally. And they’ll continue to break our laws by driving illegally, so why not give them licenses? The first duty of a legislator, by definition a lawmaker, should be respect for the law. Gutierrez clearly doesn’t respect the nation’s laws, which should prompt this question:
Why is this woman in the Maryland Legislature?
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is an award-winning journalist who lives in Baltimore.
