At 10:59 AM 4/18/2001, you wrote:

Dear Mr. Netkin:

My Assemblyman is Keith Richardson.  I live not far from you, in Canoga Park. Would you please tell me what person(s) are most appropriate for me to voice my opposition to A.B. 60 to (Driver's licenses for illegals)?

I am a registered Republican who voted for Steve Soboroff.  Sadly, I consider Hahn the lesser (or more benign) of the two remaining evils and will vote for him in the runoff.

I noticed you stated you are married to and have children with a Mexican woman.  My brother has had a wonderful five-year marriage to a woman who was born in Mexico but brought here in childhood by her mother.  It is, however, sometimes awkward for him as he is very anti-illegal immigration, aware via coworkers of the agenda of some Mexicans who are here, and yet his wife is Mexican.

I married a man from El Salvador in 1990, having three children from my first marriage.  He'd entered the US illegally but had a political asylum case giving him permission to stay here and work.   After we married I filed the petition for his green card.  I gave birth to our daughter in mid-1991.  In early 1992, pregnant with our second child, my then 10-year-old daughter informed me her stepfather had been "forcing her to have sex with him."  I knew she was not making it up.  He did eventually admit to me that he did "some" but not all of the things she said he did to her.  The police were called and he was convicted of one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, an aggravated felony to the INS, grounds for deportation.   The abuse, however, was not confined to my daughter.  My oldest son, 8 at the time of stepdad's arrest, was too afraid to speak up about what he'd witnessed.  This son went on to copy this behavior on his youngest sister, then 3-1/2, raping her.  My son had to go live with his father.

My husband's sentence went from 12 years down to 6 years, 7 months served and five years probation, registration as a sex-offender, restrictions around children, etc.  He was released from Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles in November of 1992.  No one from the INS was present in the jail so he was not deported.  After the Northridge Earthquake in 1994 his probation officer gave him permission to go to Oregon for work.  He was given three months to live up there before registering as a sex offender and before his case would get transferred to probation up there.  I couldn't believe it.

I started calling the INS, wondering how he could still have his green card and be a convicted child molester.  I was told he was deportable but that the INS had no record of his conviction.  I was told also that only one in four deportable criminal aliens was actually deported...due to lack of manpower by the INS.  It took nine months of effort on my part, calling at great expense, before the INS actually got all the necessary paperwork (proof of conviction) to actually arrest and deport him.  You see, in my divorce the judge had granted him visitation of our two children despite his conviction as he had not done anything to them (yet).  I had to do whatever I could short of killing him myself to keep him away from me and my kids.

He came back illegally twice that he made me aware of.  Once he was arrested living with his family in Simi Valley.  Even though he had been deported for an aggravated felony, criminally it was treated as a probation violation and probation was reinstated.  I assume this was because of Special Order 40.  He should have been made to finish his original five-year prison sentence.

In 1998 he came back and obtained a driver's license in another name in Houston, Texas and worked and lived there with his family, a woman and her young daughter, for about a year.  Texas at that time did not take fingerprints on license applications nor did they check for prior licenses in other states.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am concerned this clown is most likely somewhere back in the United States, especially after the disasters in El Salvador.  Whatever is done to make it easier for the illegals to live and work in California makes it easier for him to "assimilate" here.  The INS can't even handle the aliens they've allowed to come here...how can they manage millions of illegals?

Name Withheld

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That is quite a horror story.

Much of your story, although interesting, is not directly relevant to the mission of this web site, but since it is my policy not to edit email, I have left it in tact. But I will comment on parts.

Although you bring to the viewers of this site, a worse case scenario of immigration abuse, you have also made mention of your brother's wonderful marriage to a Mexican woman.

I too have a wonderful marriage to a woman who immigrated from Mexico eleven years ago.

Your brother shouldn't feel awkward about being married to a Latina and being opposed to illegal immigration at the same time. There are many immigrants who came to this country for a better life, my wife included, who realize that there is a limit to how many more immigrants can follow them if they want to keep their better life (a full lifeboat will ruin it for those aboard if it capsizes trying to take on more people). And as voting U.S. citizens, my wife included, we (should) have a "say" in immigration policy -- and that doesn't mean we are anti-immigrant any more than a family who plans how many children they will have, is anti-children.

The only way I know of to convince our leaders not to legalize driver's licenses for illegals, is to inundate them with "outrage" letters -- this worked to stiffle Cedillos first try -- Governor Davis vetoed Cedillo's first try after he was remined who he worked for. Here is a copy of the letter that I sent to him and also to about another 1/2 dozen politicians:

Attention: Governor Gray Davis.

Subject: illegal alien drivers license bill (AB1463)

The principal argument for Issuing California driver's licenses to illegal aliens, is that it will make our roads safer because they would be trained to drive safely and would have insurance.

Society must assume that anyone who would break the law and drive without a license to begin with, would continue to break driving and other laws even if they were licensed and most would not be safer drivers. Moreover, it is laughable to think that illegal aliens are going to run out and buy car insurance (one of the more profitable documents now being sold to illegals, are fraudulent "proof of insurance" documents).

Giving illegal aliens driver's licenses will only make enforcement of our immigration laws more difficult -- it would make it harder to detect them  and it sends the message that our immigration laws are meaningless. It also "throws in the towel" and sends the wrong message to illegal aliens that they can change the law by breaking the law.

But whatever your argument, you should not pass this bill simply because it is your duty to uphold the will of the people -- THE VAST MAJORITY OF CALIFORNIA VOTERS ARE AGAINST IT.

Hal Netkin

POB 3465

Van Nuys, CA 91407

Feel free to copy, edit, and/or add to the letter and send to your assemblyman and any other politicians involved. One of the politicians who replied to the above letter (sent by fax), was State Senator Jackie Speier, who,  for yet another good reason, is opposed to anyone (legal or illegal) receiving a driver's license who can't provide a social security number. Senator Speier wrote me that studies indicate that a large percentage of families who cannot locate their ex dead-beat dad husbands or boy friends, must struggle to get by without child support and must resort to receiving public assistance at some point. Speier strongly supports locating dead-beat dads who won't pay child support, through the DMV's database of Social Security numbers.

Senator Speier pointed out a problem that she didn't realize is even bigger than she at first imagined -- that is, thousands of  illegal alien dead-beat dads found it easy to abandon their families by crossing the border where authorities can do a complete "make" on them for a minor infraction, but aren't allowed to investigate their immigration status.

It must be frustrating to know that your ex is a criminal alien lurking about. The INS (and LAPD) whines about lack of manpower. In every case of "lack of manpower," you can trace the cause -- the problem was ignored until it became unmanageable.

This web site was launched after frustration of not being heard by our leaders. But if enough people like yourself put the pressure on the broken politicians, we can fix them.