Governor Strickland's illegal immigrant problem

Henry Guzman, Ohio's Safety Director, resigned in August. About a year late. From AP:

[His] Department of Public Safety delayed a proposed crackdown [on registrations and plates for illegals] for more than a year, a newspaper [Columbus Dispatch] reported Sunday.

Director Henry Guzman, whose last day is Friday, delayed the proposed crackdown after meeting with Latino business owners and those who profited by charging fees to falsify power-of-attorney forms to obtain registrations for illegal immigrants, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Guzman announced his resignation last Aug. 27 because of a feud with State Highway Patrol Superintendent Richard Collins, who also resigned.

Guzman did not know that so-called "runners" - Latinos with legal U.S. residency who collected fees of more than $100 each to get the registrations - were present at a July 31, 2008, meeting to discuss a crackdown on the policy scheduled to begin the next day, officials said. Car dealers, financing and insurance company officials were worried about their bottom lines and undocumented workers' ability to drive and support their families.

New restrictions didn't take effect until Aug. 24 of this year. The new policy requires a valid driver's license number or state ID number for the person receiving the registration when power-of-attorney forms are used. . .

Ohio House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder, a Medina Republican, said the new policy should have been in place to keep undocumented workers from getting registrations. Any problems could be worked out over time, he said.

"I'm absolutely baffled," Batchelder said. "They were intentionally permitting the law to be violated. It's unbelievable."

Records show that BMV investigators have considered Ohio to be a haven for the registration of vehicles by illegal immigrants - inside and outside the state - for at least four years.

Ohio only required a Social Security number for a person to register a vehicle on behalf of another with a power-of-attorney form. Federal law prohibited the state from checking the numbers to verify identities.

Read the blog of Kyle Sisk. He notes that our Republican governor was humiliated for far less.

Again, it looks like the Republicans and our ever vigilant "free press" were asleep at the switch. That automobile registration means they could register to vote--a fact I'm sure was not lost on ACORN. But not to worry. A runner could earn $8,000 a week getting license plates for illegals, and so it's sort of Guzman's stimulus plan.