FYI illegal immigrants still have to pay taxes! if you work you get taxed simple, no one is taking anything out of your own pocket for them they pay just as much taxes but with one difference no ability to drive or have a pension. Goodness before having such an offensive and cold opinion get educated. Ignorants! And as far as i know no one had to "work hard" to get a license, Also more illegals than you know have insurance. I don't exactly see why everyone sees this as a menace. Really they cant read signs? I didn't realize that being an illegal was the synonym of illiterate. A lot if not more than 40% of illegals are here because at one point they were legal and there residency expired or were denied the citizenship while here legally. All you guys are suggesting is that they remain in poverty in their own country because its simply better than breaking a couple of laws to give heir children a better future. If any of you bigots consider yourself good parents you would do the same, yet it is much easier said because no one here has ever been in that situation clearly, that or you have forgotten what it is like to not have anything and with all mistakes of a human have to put aside all to care and provide the minimal essentials to live for you family. Sickening this world belongs to all humans yet like dogs people are eager to sharpen their teeth at anyone who by thought only threaten their territory. DISGUSTING.

Negative, I'm an illegal immigrant 18 years of age .. I Can Read the signs and ill translate them to you in Spanish ... Not only that, I don't think its that Hard to know what the speed limit is on every street.. In Spanish MPH stands for ''millas por hora'', we also use the same numbers. . . Yes, the number 3 in Spanish is still 3. Its easy for you to say ,' heeo naaa dont let these filthy, ugly, smelly Mexicans on our streets'', when you dont know half of the things we have to deal with everyday... when im on the street driving illegally , it bothers me know that i can't be driving , but i must because its the only way I can go to school, work, and other places... I just hope this bill works out for the best ... god bless everybody out there thats struggling ... P.s I like your grammar and spelling, How old are you?

Nobody said you had to live in Illinois ... Gangs aren't the only ones killing people -_-

FYI illegal immigrants still have to pay taxes! if you work you get taxed simple, no one is taking anything out of your own pocket for them they pay just as much taxes but with one difference no ability to drive or have a pension. Goodness before having such an offensive and cold opinion get educated. Ignorants! And as far as i know no one had to "work hard" to get a license, Also more illegals than you know have insurance. I don't exactly see why everyone sees this as a menace. Really they cant read signs? I didn't realize that being an illegal was the synonym of illiterate. A lot if not more than 40% of illegals are here because at one point they were legal and there residency expired or were denied the citizenship while here legally. All you guys are suggesting is that they remain in poverty in their own country because its simply better than breaking a couple of laws to give heir children a better future. If any of you bigots consider yourself good parents you would do the same, yet it is much easier said because no one here has ever been in that situation clearly, that or you have forgotten what it is like to not have anything and with all mistakes of a human have to put aside all to care and provide the minimal essentials to live for you family. Sickening this world belongs to all humans yet like dogs people are eager to sharpen their teeth at anyone who by thought only threaten their territory. DISGUSTING.

@carrie: what exactly are "they" getting for free? Immigrants will have to complete a driver training course (at a cost), obtain auto insurance (most likely at an inflated rate if they've never been insured), pass a test then pay for a temporary license. Compare this against the present situation (unlicensed, uninsured drivers) and I'm wondering how one can still complain, unless it's about more than just drivers licenses.

Carrie, they are ILLEGAL! not just immigrants they deserve NOTHING from tax payers except a buss trip back over the boarder.

FYI illegal immigrants still have to pay taxes! if you work you get taxed simple, no one is taking anything out of your own pocket for them they pay just as much taxes but with one difference no ability to drive or have a pension. Goodness before having such an offensive and cold opinion get educated. Ignorants! And as far as i know no one had to "work hard" to get a license, Also more illegals than you know have insurance. I don't exactly see why everyone sees this as a menace. Really they cant read signs? I didn't realize that being an illegal was the synonym of illiterate. A lot if not more than 40% of illegals are here because at one point they were legal and there residency expired or were denied the citizenship while here legally. All you guys are suggesting is that they remain in poverty in their own country because its simply better than breaking a couple of laws to give heir children a better future. If any of you bigots consider yourself good parents you would do the same, yet it is much easier said because no one here has ever been in that situation clearly, that or you have forgotten what it is like to not have anything and with all mistakes of a human have to put aside all to care and provide the minimal essentials to live for you family. Sickening this world belongs to all humans yet like dogs people are eager to sharpen their teeth at anyone who by thought only threaten their territory. DISGUSTING.

How are they getting anything for free? Is the bill saying they would get DL's for free? Insuranace for free? One thing is for certain. You are a veritable imbecil. I am in the insurance business and this is a HUGE business opportunity for us. we often have to turn people away because of no DL.

This was a vote from the Senate. As the House Leader, what does Tom Cross have to do with the Senate?

Now, now Ron, don't let facts get in the way of a perfectly good rant.
This is still the Patch, after all. (Perhaps it should be renamed to The B*tch)

FYI illegal immigrants still have to pay taxes! if you work you get taxed simple, no one is taking anything out of your own pocket for them they pay just as much taxes but with one difference no ability to drive or have a pension. Goodness before having such an offensive and cold opinion get educated. Ignorants! And as far as i know no one had to "work hard" to get a license, Also more illegals than you know have insurance. I don't exactly see why everyone sees this as a menace. Really they cant read signs? I didn't realize that being an illegal was the synonym of illiterate. A lot if not more than 40% of illegals are here because at one point they were legal and there residency expired or were denied the citizenship while here legally. All you guys are suggesting is that they remain in poverty in their own country because its simply better than breaking a couple of laws to give heir children a better future. If any of you bigots consider yourself good parents you would do the same, yet it is much easier said because no one here has ever been in that situation clearly, that or you have forgotten what it is like to not have anything and with all mistakes of a human have to put aside all to care and provide the minimal essentials to live for you family. Sickening this world belongs to all humans yet like dogs people are eager to sharpen their teeth at anyone who by thought only threaten their territory. DISGUSTING.

Other than voting 'no' for this measure, what would you suggest as a solution for this public policy?

Illegals are criminals. Yes, they are bad people -- they're breaking our laws. If I were you, I wouldn't be proud to have illegals in my family. Instead of defending them to us, how about counseling them to do the right thing? Go home and then enter our country legally.

This is not meant as an attack, I'm actually really curious. How exactly are taxes taken out of their checks? Social security? How are they even employed? I know ~21% of my paycheck goes to these things, and it is all in my name.

taxes get taken out through the same number provided by the irs to legals!!! How are people that were brought here as babies supposed to even know what to do in a foreign country your argument is irrelevant and everyone as broken the law numerous time now breaking a law just for mere progression? they dont affect you at all i dont understand why you have an opinion on something you are not familiar with!?

"Shouldn't they be able to get them selves around just like everyone else does?"

No, they shouldn't. Availing yourself of services provided to citizens is a benefit of citizenship. Entering our country by breaking our laws means you will/should not receive the same benefits citizens receive.

"They are not hurting anyone by being able to drive. Most of wrecks are caused by someone not paying attention and that could make them white, black, brown, yellow, or green not US citizens or non citizens." This is an incredibly ignorant statement. Accidents are caused by from a number of different reasons. This includes not taking the proper lessons to learn how to drive; how to anticipate what rain, snow, ice, water, will do to your vehicle traction; what the proper following distance is; what the load limits are for specific vehicles on specific roads; getting enough documented practice time behind the wheel (with a licensed driver) to show you have formalized training, etc. Yes, anyone of any color can have an accident but we're not discussing people having DL's based on their skin color.

And nothing I indicated is meant to be a blanket statement of all people of any color or country of origin. If we start breaking down the walls that separate the benefits of citizenship, where do we stop?

Walt, you make a few common mistakes in your comment. The large majority of legal immigrants are not citizens. Legal immigrants are typically permanent residents (green card holders) or temporary residents (work visas, student visas).
Legal immigrants not always have social security cards. Only legal immigrants allowed to work have social security cards, the others are not allowed to obtain one (this was a change implemented after 2001).

I understand your point about the importance of doing things legally and agree with you on that. But we have to acknowledge that the politicians of both parties never did their work in this field and instead of keeping the law up to date they opted to cater to radicals and setup caps that are artificially small for legal immigration.
Check out this link- http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5803.html
You will see that for example a well educated immigrant from India, sponsored by his employee may have to wait 10 years before getting a greencard. During these 10 years the person lives under a temporary status and in places like Arizona might be confused as an illegal as most local authorities are not able to figure out the difference.
My point is - there is little incentive for an uneducated immigrants to follow a process like it. So they just go on and live underground.

The law needs to be fixed so it meets the reality of the marketplace and enforced from that point forward.

Oh boo hoo. Cry me a river. Work 24 hours for all I care. I too have worked 3 jobs at one time. I earned my wages. I worked hard. I didn't do anything illegal. I did not expect any other country to open their doors for me to come in and change their rules for me. Nor make their children learn my language to accommodate me. And still, my government decides to give whoever they choose, without a care, MY money that I contributed to taxes along with every other hard working red blooded American. My goal is NOT to say to you, "go back where you came from", but rather, "shut up, appreciate all the accommodations that have been made for you, and quit your crying. You've shoved it about as far as it will go". If you don't like it here, then get out. I'm sick of this country being overran by the minorities and my rights being squashed by those who don't deserve. There's not much of America left, and soon that small amount will be stolen out from under us as well.

Angela it's not movies but the realities of what is going on with regards to the vans. It happens everyday as I have seen first hand and they are called day workers. You can hang out at any Home Depot in the city and see it for yourself.

Your husband is lucky to have been educated in our school systems while not being a legal citizen and paying taxes for those services. I'm glad to see he did well as we have/had one of the best educations in the world at one time.

I work 3 jobs to keep the roof over my families head so I know all to well what hard work is. I also work with immigrants who are here legally ( green cards) as my employer chooses not to break the law. These companies who break the laws need to be shut down, fined and thrown in jail for doing so.

As far as paying taxes you need to check with the Immigration Policy Center/American Immigration Council to see who really pays taxes to this country. While your husband might be doing the right thing there are many, many more that are not but draining our services for the ones that are.

I really would like to know how you live off of $100.00 plus tips a week. Do you have health care? Do you have children who go to school? Curious as how that works.

Jane,
I don't necessarily believe that Lee is being a racist. I can see where he is coming from. I can't imagine moving to another country and thinking that they will change the country's signage to accommodate my language. I can't imagine moving to another country and expecting them to build a huge catholic church just because I am Catholic. I can't imagine crossing over into another country illegally and expecting to be blessed with free education, health care, food stamps, etc., all while not contributing financially towards that free stuff. I am sure you will tell us that this country was founded by immigrants. That argument can certainly hold water. However, those immigrants came her legally and abided by the rules of this country. They got physicals before entering. They filled out paper work before entering. They were financially contributing members of this society who were proud of the country they moved to. They learned the Pledge of Allegiance and recited it regularly and appreciated the words! We don't have that today. That is unacceptable and a slap in the face to our founding fathers, veterans and every single true American.

Sam --- his comment about "the minorities" says it all. Nothing like painting everything with a wide brush. Nothing "true American" about much of what has been said here. One can certainly disagree without spewing racist garbage and dividing everyone into "them and us". Or "the minorities", which, doesn't actually have all that much to do with the topic at hand. Minority is generally accepted to mean anything other than white, and has nothing to do with immigration status or English language proficiency.

By the way, there are still immigrants to the US who do it legally. : ) Just as not every undocumented person is Mexican, another point that seems to be ignored in immigration discussions. Again - broad brush and all.

I.J. I'm working those jobs ( 1 full, 2 part time) after my job was outsourced overseas to India thanks to Bain Capital. I hold a college degree but at 53 it's hard as heck to find the work when most want to hire the young ones. I have massive medical that I will be paying off for the rest of my life and the 2 part time jobs help with that. I also receive no assistance and am doing this on my own.

Before accusing me of knocking a whole race of people you should reread what I wrote. I said illegals and immigrants which includes a broad spectrum of nationalities. Anyone here who is not a citizen or have green card status is an illegal.

Angela I wish you and your family nothing but the best. One would think that your husband would have an easier time since he's married to you but I know first hand how our system works. Those who want to do the right thing are sometimes punished for the ones who break the laws, we pay for the sins of our brothers.
I would love to visit an authentic Mexican restaurant but I know of only Pepe's and I don't think that is one. If you could recommend one I'd appreciate it and so would my girls.

Happy Holidays to All. May we all move forward and find peace in the new year!

Aleyda, it is unfathomable that you could be proud of your family members who are breaking the law in this great country. Very simply, they are criminals, who should be arrested. Kindly provide their addresses so that the police can stop by and pick them up. You can proud all you want as you wave good-bye to them.