It's A Burden...

I read a story today that claims the House of Represenatives has passed a bill that makes it illegal for ILLEGAL immigrants to get a drivers license. Bravo to the Republican controlled house for passing this legislation through. What? No sarcasm you say? No snarky remarks about how the Republicans have gotten it wrong again? No, this is the kind of clear headed thinking we need in Washington. This is a common sense approach to fighting terror in my opinion. This would make it that much more difficult for a terrorist to freely operate in this country unchecked. State motor vehicle departments and some Governors lodged protests on this legislation claiming it's a "burden" and would make their employees "immigration officers". Well boo-hoo. We're very sorry to bother you, but we need to do something to control who is in this country LEGALLY and who is not. Now, we can certainly debate the the Bush administrations immigration policies (or lack thereof) are creating a huge wave of illegal immigrants that years before wouldn't have been thought possible. It's hilariously ironic that the Bush administration supports this bill, yet allows anyone and everyone to enter the country in the first place so easily. This obviously makes a states job more difficult, but something has to be done. The quote from the bills sponsor:

 
"Today there are over 350 valid drivers license designs issued by the 50 states. We all know it's very difficult for security officials at airports to tell the real ID cards from the counterfeit ones," said the bill's sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner.
Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the new features that states would have to include on drivers licenses would prevent terrorists from using them as IDs to board planes like the Sept. 11 hijackers did.

See, it's not difficult for me to get behind something a Republican comes up with. This is a good idea. I'm even for taking it a step further and getting rid of all these different designs and having one standard national ID/Drivers card. It's thinking like this that will allow this country to grow more secure over the years, not less. It isn't imposing on someones civil rights to ask for their SS number and whether or not they're a citizen. It's common sense. I'm all for people being allowed to come to this country legally and make a life for themselves. I'm against people coming in illegally and being a drain on our resources. Good grief, I sound like a right winger.