A recent hearing on a proposed New Hampshire bill to invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to illegal immigrants turned briefly hostile when an El Salvadoran-born state representative called the bill stupid and shamed lawmakers for referring to illegal immigrants as illegal aliens.
An immigrant advocate fueled the fire when she demanded that lawmakers stop using the term illegal aliens because it was offensive.
“Please put a human face and stop referring to us as aliens,” Eva Castillo, Director of the N.H. Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees and a translator for the Latin America Center, demanded during her testimony before the House Transportation Committee.
Ms. Castillo then held up her passport that she was visibly holding during her testimonies and added “I keep my passport with me at all times.”
In response to her demands, Committee Chairman state Rep. Thomas Walsh (R-Merrimack) told Ms. Castillo that illegal alien was “for the record” a legal term and that until the definition changes “it is appropriate [to] use.”
Ms. Castillo argued back, saying that the CIS (Center for Immigration Studies), a non-profit research organization with no governing or legislative power, said to stop using it.
Mr. Wash warned Ms. Perez that “she would be done” if she continued to hurl insults about the proposed Senate bill.
“You’re pushing me,” he said to Ms. Perez, asking her if she would like to continue to speak on the bill, “One more insult about stupid or anything of the sort and you’re done.”
Ms. Perez, who opened her testimony by saying she needed a moment to get herself together because she was so angry over the bill, said lawmakers should think before they try to pass or introduce “stupid stuff like this.”
“Think!” she exclaimed as she pointed to her head with both hands. “It’s a stupidity to think that taking away the right for people to drive in New Hampshire is going to help to chase them away from the state.”
She took umbrage with Mr. Walsh’s warning, arguing that other people have made disparaging comments without recourse.
She too took umbrage with the use of the term “illegal aliens.” She complained that the bill’s main sponsor Sen. Bill Gannon (R-Rockingham) used it seven times in his presentation of the legislation.
“The term illegal aliens is used over and over and over and over,” she said. She called it embarrassing, painful, and shameful.
“Shame on all the ones that keeping [sic] on calling people illegal aliens. Many of you probably coming from undocumented families that you don’t even know your grandparents,” charged Ms. Perez.
Both she and Ms. Castillo joined others testifying at the hearing that they are concerned the bill would create profiling in New Hampshire. They also said it would unfairly target illegal immigrants of neighboring states such as Maine and Massachusetts who pass through New Hampshire for work or to visit family.
Henry Klementowicz, a staff attorney with the New Hampshire chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) questioned the legality of the measure and said he believes it may violate the interstate compact, a nationwide agreement most states have adopted that recognizes driver’s licenses from other states.
He said a move to invalidate licenses given to illegal immigrants by other states would be equivalent to a state not recognizing a license given to a 16-year-old because it doesn’t believe someone that young should have a license.
“I just think it would be chaotic,” he said, “if people have to worry about what states may target their license.”
He called the bill “unenforceable.”
Mr. Gannon said he ran it by the Senate’s legal counsel and “they didn’t have a problem” with the bill.
He said it would not apply to any immigrants “legally present” in the United States and that his primary reason for it was because states including neighboring Massachusetts are issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants without vetting them or even waiting for their application for citizenship to be processed.
He cited recent publicized cases of illegal immigrant workers discovered in New England with a violent criminal history including convictions for murder and connections to international gangs and terrorists.
Mr. Gannon said he also believes the bill will prevent potential voter fraud since driver’s licenses are an acceptable form of identification to register to vote in New Hampshire.
“In summary, if you’re in the United States illegally, you should not possess a state-issued driver’s license,” he said.
In countering Mr. Gannon, Ms. Perez talked about her difficulties in getting a driver’s license while going through the process of obtaining U.S. citizenship. She said even after acquiring a green card, she had to have substantial documentation.
In addition to the bill repealing the ban on teaching divisive concepts, other bills sponsored by Ms. Perez included one that would create a cause of legal action for discrimination based on hairstyles relative to a person’s ethnicity.
