SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto legislation that would allow nearly 2 million illegal immigrants who pass criminal background checks to obtain driver's licenses, a spokeswoman said on Saturday.
The Democratic-controlled California Senate and Assembly approved bills on Friday, the final day of the legislative session, to allow illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses.
The legislation was similar to a measure, signed into law by former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, that Schwarzenegger vowed to have revoked during his campaign for governor last year. The Legislature repealed the law after Schwarzenegger's election.
The latest measure included new provisions such as requiring illegal immigrants to pay for fingerprint background checks. But Margita Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Republican governor, said Schwarzenegger would veto it because it still did not provide enough guarantees to prevent would-be terrorists from entering the state and creating new identities.
"Security background checks (provided for in the legislation) are not sufficient for us to determine that the people who are getting licenses are the people they say they are," Thompson said.
She added the governor also wanted licenses for illegal immigrants to be distinguishable from standard driver's licenses, a provision not included in the legislation passed by state lawmakers.
I wish the Governor would go a little further and say that he doesn't believe that illegal immigrants should have drivers licenses at all. If somebody is in this country illegally why should they be given driving privileges? We shouldn't be letting them drive around we should be shipping them back across the border.
America has some of the loosest immigration laws in the world. If these people want to come here to live and work then let them do it legally.