Stalling visa date bill irresponsible

Justin Byma -- Staff Column

The DFLers in the State Senate committee on Crime Prevention and Public Safety last week began an obstructionist campaign against one of the Governor's most important initiatives. On a voice vote the "Status Check" bill died in committee.

Senate File 87, as authored by our own Senator Dave Kleis, would close an important public safety loophole regarding the issuance of driver's licenses to temporary visitors to the United States. The bill requires that the expiration date coincide with the federal lawful admission period indicated on a visitor's visa. The bill also provides a six-month grace period to those who can show that they have applied for a visa extension, so that no one will be denied driving privileges due to paper jams at the INS.

The bill will have no effect on immigrants or permanent residents. It only applies to those who are here for a fixed period of time, i.e. people in Minnesota with temporary work or student visas.

The corresponding House bill has already passed by a 106-25 margin. But the overwhelmingly bipartisan support for this initiative means nothing to the leftists who control the Senate. They believe this is a prime opportunity to stall the Governor's agenda.

At the committee hearing, Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, snidely wondered how it would feel if someone were to lose his license while his visa extension was backlogged. She hadn't paid attention to the extension clause. Evidently, she opposed the bill without having even read it!

Without this provision, it is possible for one to obtain a driver's license that is valid for four years, even if his or her visa expires in one year. Since the driver's license is our most frequently used form of identification, this is a way for people to skate around federal immigration laws and remain in the country.

Detractors like to point out the obvious and say that not all visitors are terrorists, that there are homegrown terrorists too. Nevertheless, there are laws to protect us from the "homegrowns," but we also know that al Qaeda and other groups take advantage of our open society to send to us foreign terrorists. Minnesota law makes their objectives easier to grasp. We can help to lessen the threat by tightening up the law, without sacrificing civil liberties. If an expiration date is the problem, then why have visas at all?

This is a common sense piece of legislation. In fact, the only person who testified at the Senate hearing who would be personally affected by the bill was an exchange student from Germany. And he was there in support of the bill.

One cannot expect the leftists in the Senate to support this bill. But to deny their colleagues the opportunity for an up or down vote on this issue is irresponsible.

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Justin Byma can be reached at [email protected]