James Settelmeyer Admits He Voted for Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

By Andrew Smith
360 News Las Vegas

James Settelmeyer’s campaign  admitted the attack levied by his opponent David Flippo is true.

Settelmeyer voted for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.

That is the plain English version. That is what SB303 did. That is what Joe Arpaio said. That is what Greg Bovino said. That is what David Flippo’s campaign ad said. 

We spoke to a Nevada resident and legal green card holder who told us “When I went to the DMV to get my driver’s license, I had to jump through hoops, the DMV employees advised me to just tell them I was an illegal alien and I would get a driver’s license much easier. As someone who is working on coming into this country the right way, I was disgusted.”

Settelmeyer’s campaign told The Nevada Independent that the bill was about “public safety,” that it required illegal immigrants to go to the DMV, pass tests, provide proof of identity and give information about where they lived.

They can call them “driver authorization cards” all they want. Normal people understand what this means. Settelmeyer voted to let illegal immigrants get a government-issued document so they could legally drive in Nevada.

Also known as a driver’s license.

The “they were only driver authorization cards” defense is a really stupid defense. It is the kind of fake technical distinction politicians use when they know the substance of the charge is true. Nevada created a special driver’s license system for people who were in the country illegally, and James Settelmeyer voted yes.

The best argument Settelmeyer’s defenders have is that illegal immigrants were already driving, so the state might as well test them, track them and require insurance.

That argument still loses.

The correct answer to illegal immigration is simple: deport them.

Nevada should never have created a special licensing system for illegal immigrants. The state should have cooperated with immigration enforcement, identified people here unlawfully and helped remove them from the country. Instead, politicians like James Settelmeyer gave them driver’s licenses and called it public safety.

Even worse, the bill limited the use of DMV information for immigration enforcement. So the same politicians claiming they wanted to “account for” illegal immigrants also backed a law that helped shield them from immigration enforcement.

That destroys the entire defense.

This was never complicated. Settelmeyer voted for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. His campaign has now admitted the vote happened and defended the policy behind it.

Voters should take him at his word.

James Settelmeyer supported driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. David Flippo opposed it. That is the difference.