TO THE EDITOR:
Another in the long list of Democrat extreme bills will be heard on the Senate Floor Tuesday, February 21. Democrats are pushing to dish out driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.The license will be identical in every way to driver’s licenses for legal citizens and residents. Democrats are rejecting all attempts to distinguish driver’s licenses for illegals with features such as vertical orientation, different color, or text. The Democrats’ rejecting common sense measures presents three exceptionally dangerous problems:First, it creates a serious national security threat. Until the federal REAL ID law takes effect, a driver’s license can get you onto a military base or federal building. An illegal immigrant with bad intentions and one of these identical licenses could expose that massive gap in security.Second, it jeopardizes the integrity of our elections. Democrats are also pushing an automatic voter registration law and a bill that weakens safeguards in our elections even further. With one of these licenses, illegal immigrants will have an easy time registering to vote.Third, because jurors are selected from lists of registered voters, licensed drivers, and state ID card holders, illegal immigrants will be summoned to sit on juries. Courts will no longer be decided by a jury of one’s peers but instead Minnesotans will be convicted of crimes by those in Minnesota illegally.The danger Democrats are putting all law-abiding Minnesotans in to appease their extremist base is simply astounding. With no safeguards in place, the Democrat legislation will lead to significant fraud, abuse, and even further compromised elections. As a minority myself married to an immigrant, I testify first-hand how immigrants are an indispensable part of the fabric of this country. There are countless immigrants who played by the rules, followed the process, and did things the right way. Their contributions are insulted every time we normalize those who broke the law.
Eric Lucero
Minnesota State Senator
District 30
TO THE EDITOR:
My family has owned property on 67th Street north of Becker since 1950. It is the gravel road that divides Santiago and Becker Townships, which is seriously problematic. Neither township is willing to spend money to keep this gravel road maintained. I am 53 years old and have been traveling down this gravel road since childhood. It has NEVER been this rough in all my life. It is like a wash board. 30+ years ago the road was widened and prepared for paving, which never happened. No way can you travel down the road with an open cup of coffee without it spilling everywhere. I feel like I need to align my van after driving down the gravel. It is very discouraging. Even the minimum maintenance gravel road is better than 67th Street. I am hopeful that someone who has some influence with township roads will step up and help. I challenge supervisors from both townships to take a field trip and find out for themselves. I am hoping I am pleasantly surprised by improvements coming this spring. I have traveled all over the state of Minnesota far and wide, and rarely driven a gravel even close to this rough.
Terri (Erickson) Hughes
Becker Township
