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Angel Families React to Virginia Law Giving Illegals Driving Privileges

Virginia’s move to allow immigrants who entered the United States illegally to obtain permission to drive in the state is “dangerous” and “utter nonsense,” according to a pair of Angel parents who lost their adult sons to drivers who had entered the country without permission.

“An illegal driver presents many dangers in our country whether they have a driver’s license or not,” said Mary Ann Mendoza, whose son, Mesa Police Sgt. Brandon Mendoza, was killed in 2014 after an immigrant living in the country without permission, who was driving drunk on the wrong side of the road, struck him head-on.

The driver, Raul Silva Corona, also died in the crash.

Mendoza noted that driving laws can differ starkly between other countries and the U.S.

“Driving drunk is against the law here but acceptable in other societies,” she said. “The majority of illegals cannot read our English traffic signs, which creates chaos in some situations.”

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“When your family is affected by illegal crime, especially by an illegal driver, you tend to view things more realistically,” Mendoza said.

Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles announced Tuesday that it will offer “driver privilege cards” to taxpaying immigrants who entered the country illegally beginning on Jan 2, 2021.

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Several other states, including New York, New Jersey and California, allow immigrants living in the country without permission to get similar driving privileges. {snip}

Don Rosenberg’s son, Drew Rosenberg, was 25 years old and riding his motorcycle in San Francisco when Roberto Galo slammed a car into him on Nov. 16, 2010. Galo, who entered the country without permission from Honduras and later earned temporary protective status, had been cited five months earlier for driving unlicensed, uninsured and the wrong way down a one-way street.

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“Allowing illegal aliens to get a driver’s license (or ‘privilege card’) is not only bad policy but also dangerous,” Rosenberg, who is president of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime, told Fox News Wednesday. “As a group, illegal aliens are terrible drivers. Years of data show they are five times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision, five times more likely to drive drunk, and 10 times more likely to hit-and-run.”

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