BOSTON, MA - The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Patriot Ledger have all misrepresented the position of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association regarding House Bill 2292, proposed legislation that would allow illegal aliens the use of taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs) in lieu of social security numbers when applying for drivers' licenses. Governor Mitt Romney and the U.S. Treasury have both said that ITINs should never be used for identification purposes.

The Police Chiefs recently issued a memo clarifying their stance in order to redress what they call "slanted press reports and self-serving efforts by various parties to mischaracterize the Association's position."

An Associated Press article printed by the Patriot Ledger Oct. 28, a Boston Herald editorial of the same date, and an Oct. 26 Boston Globe story all state that the Police Chiefs' Association supports HB2292. This is untrue.

"We were not asked, nor did we ever endorse, licensing truly 'illegal aliens,'" says the memo. "Unless and until a way of confirming the identity and legal status of foreign workers is agreed upon, we do not support any changes that would endanger national security."

HB2292 does indeed endanger national security, according to Representative Reed V. Hillman (R-Sturbridge), who has filed a countermeasure that would cancel a driver's license when an immigrant's visa expires.

"September 11 prompted me to file this," says Hillman. "We in Massachusetts should not be making it easier to come here and establish phony identification."

This is reinforced by Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform. "States that issue drivers' licenses to illegals imperil the entire country by making it easier for potential terrorists to attack our nation," says Lorrie Hall, Executive Director of the Coalition. "The federal government cannot protect homeland security as long as states are issuing drivers' licenses to individuals about whom virtually nothing is known," she says.

This concern is echoed by columnist John Leo, who writes that "In California, you can now obtain a gun, explosives, jobs in secure areas - even at a nuclear power plant - with a drivers' license."

"Understand that this bill is only for illegals. It benefits nobody else," says Hall.

"ITINs are given to anybody who isn't paying taxes with legitimate social security numbers. The purpose of this bill is to get illegals to pay taxes, but 6 million illegals have ITINs, and only 2 million of them file. Most illegals don't pay taxes."

Another concern is the problem of "Motor Voter" registration, which John Leo has referred to as "citizenship on the cheap."

"Issuing drivers' licenses to illegals opens the door to more and more privileges rightly reserved for citizens. One is voting," Leo writes (U.S. News and World Report, Sep. 22, 2003). "The 'motor voter' law of 1993, by tying voter registration to the issuing of drivers' licenses, allows illegals to vote. Many vote now. With drivers' licenses, they may do so in very large numbers. … The drivers' license is nearly fatal to the fading distinction between legals and illegals."

In addition, maintains Lorrie Hall, "If you allow illegals to use ITINs for licenses, it will draw illegals into Massachusetts. In turn this will drive down wages, so that we will have more homeless people. Unskilled laborers get the rough end of this," she says. "The result is more and more poor people who cannot pay for housing. To draw more illegals to the state will depress wages and drive up housing costs. Massachusetts already makes it comfortable for illegals. The list for Section 8 [welfare] applicants is enormous!"

John Leo points out that in California, Governor Arnold Shwarzenegger has been called anti-immigrant "for opposing the drivers' license law. Schwarzenegger thinks it will blur the line between legal and illegal immigration, invite fraud, and undermine law enforcement. Which it will. … Compassion-driven politics have a cost. While the United States is spending billions to control illegal immigration, many states and localities are working, in effect, to undermine immigration law and to make illegal immigration more attractive and therefore more common. It makes no sense."

Hall has little patience with the idea that illegal aliens take only jobs that American citizens consider beneath them.

"Who did all the menial jobs before 1970?" she asks. "Americans!"

Hall maintains that if one visits a city with a low immigrant population such as Casper, Wyoming, "all of the chambermaids are Americans. Americans will do the dirtiest jobs if the wages are right," she says, pointing out that the meat-packing industry was once dominated by American families who had worked in it for generations.

For more information contact: Robert Casimiro, Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform (781) 340-5429 www.massimmigration.com E-mail: massimmigration@adelphia.net