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<p>Sure, but instead of flushing fresh water into the Bay and out into the Pacific, the feds could easily send that water to farmers. They choose not to.</p>
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Actually the CA drought hurting Central Valley farmers is a…very strong desire to protect an endangered fish.
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<p>Not sure if the farmers would agree about that ‘desire’. :)</p>
<p>I moved to California in 2010 and, like a good new citizen of California, got a new driver’s license. I had to stand in line, proved I lived in the US legally (and they needed an original birth certificate or a passport, not a license from another state), take a written test. It then took them 13 weeks to send me my fancy new license with a hologram on it as fraud protection, a picture in the hologram, a fingerprint in it. And it cost $40 or so. It was a huge pain, but at least they accepted my expired passport.</p>
<p>Then I moved to Florida and had to do it again, but Florida wouldn’t take my expired passport, so I got a new one and new ones for my kids who wanted learner’s permits. One of my kids is naturalized and it is a lot easier for her to show a passport than all her other documents. Cost? $54 each, plus of course the new passports.</p>
<p>California now wants to issue licenses to the non-documented with a notation on the back that says it is not to be used for federal purposes. This plan was rejected by the feds as it doesn’t give enough notice to those looking at the license that the holder isn’t a citizen (they want the notice on the front, and clear), and many could be confused because they went through the process I did that a license is only issued to someone who has jumped through all the hoops to show they are here legally, so would assume the license shows the holder has the right to be in the USA. Of course no one wants to embarrass a holder by stating on the document that it does not prove citizenship. Why not? My daughter’s certificate of foreign birth says NOT PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP right on it. She doesn’t feel bad, embarrassed, or shamed when she has to used another form of ID, she just does what she has to.</p>
<p>What’s going to happen is that California licenses won’t be accepted as identification for federal purposes, like at TSA or for federal benefits. Those people who did prove they were here legally will be penalized because the state is not verifying information before issuing the licenses, so the licenses won’t pass the patriot act requirements.</p>
<p>I want all drivers to have licenses and insurance, but the states can’t use the same style of cards. I don’t want MY license to be less valuable because someone else didn’t have to jump through all the hoops. I jumped. I should get to have my license recognized as being held by a citizen because that’s what I had to prove when I got it.</p>
<p>My dad is the son of an illegal immigrant - well actually, his dad came to visit on a tourist visa and decided to stay. Anyway, my opinion is if you can prove everything else is being done right - either be in Obama’s new program or at least be registered with the INS, your parents have paid taxes for at least those three years, you have proof of FL residency for at least 3 years, I don’t have a problem with it.</p>
<p>I do have a problem if everything was the same but you aren’t illegal, you wouldn’t qualify for in-state tuition.</p>
<p>I know quite a few people of a Hispanic background, and most are here illegally and are deadset against ANY benefits for illegals. It is totally against what you hear from “Latino organizations”, because my friends worked hard to come here legally, or their parents did, and they don’t want anyone to have an easy way in. There are a few illegals, but all do menial labor like cleaning toilets or day laboring. They certainly don’t pay taxes, and anything their kids get is from the charity of others. One lady is here illegally, not deported, yet her husband was convicted of a minor crime and sent back home. INS knows she is illegal. INS knows her boys were born overseas. But they let them all stay.</p>
<p>The status where some illegals are more equal than others is the problem. Get rid of 'em all (like my grandfather who should have been deported, but hey, they needed cheap labor in the first half of the 20th century) or keep 'em all. But in-between is hurting everyone.</p>
<p>Some more background on how the law got passed (and why some folks are still not happy about it):</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/gaetz-still-unhappy-with-bill-to-provide-in-state-tuitition-for-undocumented-students-1.315228”>http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/gaetz-still-unhappy-with-bill-to-provide-in-state-tuitition-for-undocumented-students-1.315228</a></p>
<p>Something that may be lost in the undocumented immigrate discussion, was that the Florida state legislature also passed a bill that would allow veterans to pay in-state tuition for college without having to first establish residency. Florida usually requires residency for at least one year before you can be officially considered a legal resident, but in the case of this bill, veterans would be able to waive this requirement and receive in-state tuition. </p>
<p>This is an argument with no end. We can never secure our borders even if we wanted to. Plus, there are too many economic interests to keep Illegal Immigrants in the country. All we can argue about are fairytale solutions. </p>
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<p>At the risk of stating the obvious, we ALL benefit from having an educated populace. Plenty of businesses don’t pay tax but they benefit from having capable workers to hire. Of course, in my more cynical moments I believe that there are those who want to keep a share of the population uneducated and ignorant to meet their own agendas.</p>
<p>In my cynical moments, which is most of the time these days, I believe there are those who want to pander to any possible voting block by doing whatever might work. Laws and consequences aside.</p>
<p>Why should kids be punished for their parents’ actions? Don’t we want to “level the playing field”?</p>
<p>First, I don’t really think you can separate kids and parents in this scenario. They are entering the country illegally to make a better life for their families. In essence they are using the kids to achieve that goal. Why do you think pregnant women are crossing the border. It’s not a coincidence. They want the kid born in the US. I agree with cpt, we are creating more problems than solutions with these conflicting laws. </p>
<p>I don’t even know what a level playing field means. There is no such thing. Never was. Never will be. You do the best you can with your starting point which will probably be higher than some and lower than others for a variety of reasons that are out of your control and maybe no-one’s fault, really. They just are. Many Americans have awful parents. We don’t give brownie points because your parents screwed up. But, it will put you behind the next guy. You deal.</p>
<p>I’m not suggesting that it’s an easy problem to solve. But we could start by penalizing businesses that hire (and benefit from) undocumented workers. And maybe change the policies going forward.</p>
<p>Also, your comment about pandering to particular voting blocks made me laugh. There are a number of politicians being exalted right now because of their Latino surnames or spouses, even if their supporters oppose a path to citizenship or certain benefits for the children of people who are here illegally.</p>
<p>Sally, there are also Latinos who came here legally and think this is a very bad idea. It’s not all about ethnicity. The politics is complicated and we can’t talk about it here, anyway. But, it’s driving all of this, obviously.</p>
<p>If you built the in-state tuition for them…they will come, and continue to come! When will it stop? Florida new law is definetely a bad idea.</p>
<p>Also, now you have to watch out for tourists. People will come as tourists and stay. If they stay for longer than 3 years, they get your (Florida) in-state tuition… what a deal! I bet they will encourage all of their friends and families to come.</p>
<p>Findmoreinfo, anyone can do that in ANY state, as far as I know. It’s usually one year to establish residency and qualify for instate tuition. </p>
<p>My apologies if I am not picking up on some sarcasm in your post.</p>
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<p>Why should kids benefit from the illegal actions of their parents?</p>
<p>Yes, we want a level playing field. But by level, that means people who follow the law. Right now it is not level since people who follow the rules and apply for citizenship and wait are being treated worse than people who don’t follow the rules. How is that level?</p>
<p>Sally “It’s usually one year to establish residency and qualify for instate tuition.” </p>
<p>All states are not doing this for illegals. (California and Florida are giving in-state tuition to even undocumented students, don’t know what other states are) If a state restrict the in-state tuition to citizens/leagal immigrants, the new illegals won’t have the benefit and won’t encourage their relatives to come.</p>
<p>You were talking about tourists.</p>
<p>Tourists can usually stay for a month or several months and go back to their country. If you encourage them, they will get a leagal visa to come, stay overtime - ignore being illegal, and get Florida in-state tuition.</p>
<p>Florida politicians are either incomptent or delibrately doing this to buy votes. It is getting themselves into more troubles than they would think.</p>
<p>A tourist in a place for three years is a resident, no?? </p>
<p>You do have some incompetent politicians in Florida, I’ll grant you that.</p>
<p>P.S. You do know wading too far into political territory in these discussions gets them shut down, don’t you?</p>
<p>Tourism, agriculture, and construction/growth industry are three of Florida’s biggest industries…all use lots of undocumented workers. Tourists won’t be coming to Florida if there are no illegals cleaning their hotel rooms built by undocumented construction workers, or washing their dishes in restaurants serving food picked by illegals. Florida can’t enforce existing federal laws or remedy this immigrant stuff alone…U S Congress needs to get its act together and reform immigration laws. </p>