Illegal immigrants in a state of disarray: through the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles, the state of Wisconsin has been aiding illegal immigrants to stay in this country and flaunt our country's immigration laws.

Part of an anonymous letter from an employee of the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as read by Wisconsin State Representative Mark Gundrum to a committee of the Wisconsin legislature during a hearing on Assembly Bill 69/Senate Bill 334 in 2005 is as follows:

   If Osama Bin Laden came to a Wisconsin
   DMV customer service center,
   affirmed he was an illegal alien,
   presented two forms of identification
   and one proof of residency in his own
   name, he would be issued a Wisconsin
   ID card. Unless he caused a disturbance
   or displayed a document
   that was clearly fraudulent, the police
   would not be notified.... Once he
   had his Wisconsin document, Osama
   would then qualify to get taxpayer
   benefits, vote in the next election, and
   do untold harm to our society.

Lee Steines, who worked for the Wisconsin DMV until February 2006, assured THE NEW AMERICAN that the anonymously written letter gives an accurate picture of daily procedure at Wisconsin DMV offices. If Osama bin Laden requested a Wisconsin driver's license, there is absolutely nothing in DMV policies or procedures that directs an employee to call the police. In fact, there are memos that state that employees are supposed to look the other way--that known criminals and manifest criminal acts are for "law enforcement" to deal with and are none of the DMV's business.

In Wisconsin, neither American citizenship nor legal residency in the country is required to get a drivers license or an official state ID. Proof of identity and state residency are required--but these are really "proof" of nothing. A foreign birth certificate, which a DMV employee may or may not be able to read or check for authenticity may be used to show a person's name and date and place of birth, or a signed credit card may be used as proof of identity. And proof of residency may be verified using a paycheck stub, a state welfare card, or a utility bill. Because Wisconsin has lax standards, it has become a magnet for illegal immigrants. Using Wisconsin documents, ordinary illegal immigrants or international terrorists are able to begin to create identities in this country that cannot be distinguished from native Americans.

Prevailing Procedures

DMV rules, Steines said, mandate that DMV frontline agents not only issue state IDs and driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, they threaten those agents who refuse to issue them with being fired for insubordination. "I can't comprehend it," he added. "They are supposed to be a regulatory agency, but they've become mere ticket sellers, letting in everyone for the cost of admission."

Wisconsin's procedures for obtaining a driver's license or ID, Steines asserts, are ludicrous, and illegal immigrants know it. In one instance, he was working behind the service counter when he observed two Hispanic men who were without Social Security cards at another agent's work area. The men were heavily tattooed in a manner typical of Hispanic gang members. When the agent stepped away from the counter to retrieve paperwork to continue the process of getting the men their state ID cards, the men burst out laughing. Likely, the men were gang members, gaining de facto legal status in the United States.

Several current DMV agents agreed to speak with THE NEW AMERICAN under the condition of complete anonymity because they are speaking as private citizens and fear reprisals. One of them said that on multiple occasions he has had Hispanics at his service counter who sported viewable tattoos of MS-13, one of the ultra-violent Hispanic gangs originating south of the border that are plaguing the United States. In one case, a Hispanic girl brought an interpreter to get her driver's license because, as her interpreter related, she only spoke Spanish. After she finished her written test, she brought it to him to get it corrected. He noticed a small tattoo under her eye and asked in English what gang she belonged to. In English, she responded, "The People's Nation in Minneapolis."

To put it bluntly, the Wisconsin DMV is responsible for aiding the entry of illegal immigrants--many of whom are violent criminals--into the United States. Or more correctly, the government of Wisconsin is responsible. It sets the rules by which DMV workers must abide, and its rules make it nearly impossible for DMV employees to stop illegal immigrants from getting virtual legal status. For instance, DMV rules state that because Wisconsin has no requirement for legal presence in the United States, employees are not allowed to ask the legal status of those applying for licenses and IDs. Even when people arrive at DMV service counters without valid Social Security numbers, DMV personnel are not allowed to inquire if they have a green card or current passport authorizing their presence in this country.

DMV rules actually go in the opposite direction, making getting a driver's license almost assured. The DMV has a form called the Social Security Number Noneligibility Certification for foreigners, through which they can bypass requirements for presenting a S.S. number. Making the system more of a farce is a DMV rule requiring employees to accept almost any form or document, from any country, in any language, as proof of identification as long as the document appears genuine. Since DMV employees may not be able to read Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, or whatever other language the document is printed in, it's impossible to know for sure what they are being asked to authenticate. Moreover, the DMV employees are told to accept as valid ID the matricula consular card, an ID card issued by the Mexican consulate that the FBI has warned against accepting as proof of identification because of rampant fraud.

In fact, DMV rules require employees to break federal immigration law. Federal law, Section 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii), says that anyone who helps an illegal in any way whatsoever (this would include issuing documents to them) is in violation of federal law and shall "be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both." Yet Wisconsin DMV employees are told that even if someone at their counter admits to being in the United States illegally, the employees are supposed to pretend that they did not hear the remark and go about issuing them a license or ID anyway.

Similarly, to prove residency, sometimes illegal immigrants will present a check stub with a S.S. number listed, yet they will sign the Social Security Number Noneligibility Certification attesting that they are not eligible for a S.S. card. This would indicate that the illegals may be committing S.S. fraud, but the DMV employees are "instructed to ignore the S.S. number, ask for additional proof of residency and proceed as if the customer has no S.S. number," according to one DMV worker.

Even when illegal immigrants get caught with clearly fraudulent documents and the police are contacted, by and large, the police merely issue the lawbreakers a fine or let them go--if the police respond at all. In a recent incident, a policeman was called to pick up an illegal alien who presented a foreign driver's license that was clearly fabricated. When the DMV officials explained the situation to the officer, he helplessly shrugged his shoulders and said, "You know all we can do is issue him a citation. The feds no longer come to pick them up for deportation, so our hands are tied."

Card-carrying Terrorists

Obviously, legitimizing Hispanic gang members, and their associated criminal activities, is bad and should not be allowed. But providing a helping hand to gang-bangers is not as bad as legitimizing terrorists.

There is, according to one unnamed source within the DMV, strong evidence that people who are out to harm the United States are operating freely throughout the country, using Wisconsin IDs or driver's licenses to aid them. He says he has personally spoken to "Russian KGB agents who made little effort to hide their true purpose for being here." Additionally, another DMV employee, who is a retired Army officer, has stated that some of the Russian and Polish immigrants who apply for Wisconsin driver's licenses--who are often well-spoken, are dressed in suits, and arrive in very expensive vehicles with dark-tinted windows and out-of-state license plates--are clearly Spetnaz officers (Russian special forces).

It is noteworthy that even when DMV employees observe a person driving whom they know has no license, the employees are not supposed to call the police, and so illegal immigrants can drive up to a DMV Customer Service Center under the eyes of the employees, still obtain a license, and then drive away.

Moreover, an AP article from November 13, 2003, entitled "Ex-Mexican consul arrested in connection with trafficking of illegal Arab migrants," solidified claims that Arabs were regularly being smuggled across our southern border. Mahmud Abouhalima, leader of the 1993 Trade Center bombing, was granted citizenship as part of the 1986 amnesty intended for Hispanic agricultural workers and Abdel Hakim Tizegha, involved in the millennium plot, posed as a Mexican migrant.

Affirming Activities

On top of all this may be the pinnacle of foolhardiness: DMV managers must give affirmative-action talks to illegal-immigrant advocacy groups and tell them how to avoid "hassles" for the illegal immigrants whom the advocates help get licenses. They must do this by explaining to the advocacy groups how illegal immigrants can skirt the system--whether that be through explaining how agents determine if a document appears to be authentic or through telling advocates what illegal immigrants should say when they are asked certain questions by the staff, such as "Do you have a valid S.S. number?"

The illegal immigrants, in this case, are supposed to tell the truth and say they do not have a S.S. number. There is no penalty for being illegal anyway, and it wouldn't pay to have an illegal immigrant get caught for identity theft.

Even if advocacy groups do not make requests for presentations, DMV managers are instructed to seek out the groups and offer their services.

Consequential Costs

Wisconsin's efforts to give sanctuary to illegal immigrants by granting them official state documents have evidently been successful. According to the DMV personnel we interviewed, there has been a veritable flood of illegal immigrants besieging DMV offices to get IDs and licenses over the past four years. Illegal immigrants arrive at DMV stations almost daily. On some days they represent the bulk of a service center's customers, especially in the southeastern and mid-eastern parts of the state. Because of the extra time that DMV officials must spend aiding foreign license applicants, costs rise.

Estimates of the number of illegals who have Wisconsin IDs and driver's licenses are somewhere in the area of 350,000 to 400,000. According to one DMV source, the number cannot be affirmed with specificity because for years there "was an 'informal' agreement between the Madison DMV and the local Social Security office. If the DMV found someone there illegally, the person would be referred to the local Social Security office, which would somehow issue the person a number.... Thus many illegals appear to have valid Social Security numbers in our system and cannot be distinguished from genuine citizens." Apparently, the informal agreement was dropped sometime after 9/11.

The increased costs at the DMV centers are undoubtedly a drop in the bucket compared to the costs that the illegals impose on the state and county welfare systems. All of the DMV agents whom we interviewed affirmed that it is a common occurrence for illegal immigrants to use Wisconsin QUEST cards (which are used to get foodshare benefits) and Wisconsin Forward cards (which are used to access Medicaid and Badgercare healthcare programs) as proof of their identity when applying for licenses and IDs, indicating that the first priority for many illegals upon entering the state is to obtain welfare benefits at taxpayer expense.

When THE NEW AMERICAN called a state welfare representative to find out to what extent illegal immigrants can take advantage of welfare programs to obtain food aid, healthcare, housing allowances, and child care, she would only tell us that each county determines eligibility and that eligibility is mainly dependent on one's income level.

Besides abusing the state's welfare system, the illegal immigrants also abuse driver's insurance programs and the right to vote. One of the DMV officials has made it a point to ask illegal immigrants if they have valid drivers insurance, and he has never had a single immigrant say that he had insurance. And so when an illegal immigrant crashes into a U.S. citizen who has insurance, the American's insurance pays, and the American's insurance rates rise. Illegals have also made it known to DMV personnel that they intend to vote using their new Wisconsin IDs and licenses, likely to aid the election of politicians who are willing to further help the illegals break U.S. law.

The Game in Play

Because of pressure brought to bear on Wisconsin's state legislature, Act 126 was passed to address the problem of illegal immigrants getting licenses and IDs in Wisconsin, despite a very pro-illegal immigrant Governor Jim Doyle at the government's helm. Act 126 mandates that the law change on April 1 to require people to present a valid S.S. number or proof of legal residence in the United States before they can be issued a license or ID. That's the good news. The bad news is that since this past November's state elections, the state's now primarily Democratic legislature is working behind the scenes to rescind the act altogether or nullify its effectiveness.

Act 126 is already facing obstacles: several of the documents that will be used to certify a legal presence in the United States are easily duplicated. Employees, especially in southern Wisconsin, have already seen many fraudulent copies of them.

Also, before the act can be fully implemented, changes to Wisconsin Transportation Rule 102 must be approved. Approval is scheduled to take place on May 1. Until it is, the DMV will continue to accept foreign birth certificates as proof of identification. Unfortunately, DMV workers learned this week (week of January 29) that the necessary rule changes may be delayed or not take place at all.

If the law is implemented as it was originally written and intended, it will be a great blessing for the taxpaying citizens of Wisconsin. If Act 126 is rescinded or undermined in some way, the end result would be more of the current insanity, accompanied by greater expense (the time spent examining the new documents, etc.).

The fate of the approximately 350,000 to 400,000 illegals who already have Wisconsin documents is unclear. If the law were fully enforced, the illegals would be notified via mail that, unless they come to a station and prove legal presence, their product would be cancelled in DMV computers. This should happen because, as one driver's license examiner stated "we have to remember that a person who is in the United States illegally has broken valid, safety-assuring U.S. laws and should not be rewarded with a Wisconsin driver's license or ID card." But the governor and Department of Transportation secretary are reviewing the possibility of "grandfathering" them in--anybody who already has a license will get to keep renewing it. (Of course, we know what Doyle would like to do!)