California Slide Into Pacific Ocean Way Overdue

Wading into a divisive, politically charged debate, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said that California should issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.



TRAITOR BASTARD SCUM CHARLIE BECK

The chief becomes one of the most prominent local figures to support the idea that state lawmakers have battled over repeatedly in the last 15 years.

And Beck’s stance is certain to further inflame critics who are already angry at the chief for his efforts to liberalize rules on how his officers impound the cars of unlicensed drivers.

“My personal belief is that they should be able to” have licenses, Beck said in response to a question during a meeting with Times’ reporters and editorial writers.

“The reality is that all the things that we’ve done — ‘we’ being the state of California — over the last 14, 16 years have not reduced the problem one iota, haven’t reduced undocumented aliens driving without licenses. So we have to look at what we’re doing.

When something doesn’t work over and over and over again, my view is that you should reexamine it to see if there is another way that makes more sense.”

Beck said he does not believe licenses for illegal immigrants should be identical to standard licenses.

Saying “it could be a provisional license, it could be a non-resident license,” he acknowledged that state officials would have to find ways to address widely held concerns that giving licenses to people who are in the country illegally could make it easier for terrorists to go undetected.